


When Your Heart Carries Vice (Turn Away)

by tieria



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Ensemble Cast, Gen, Minor Body Horror, POV Multiple, Tragedy Logic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-18 12:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 117,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11874828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tieria/pseuds/tieria
Summary: When Dennis was ten, he reached out and grabbed a piece of the twilight in his hand.By the time Dennis was twelve, he had seen the rise and fall of Sakaki Yuusho’s ill-fated Rebellion against Academia.When Dennis was sixteen, he met the future leaders of the Rebels of Heart in the land of eternal sun, long before the start of the Rebellion itself. This was within the mission parameters. This should not have changed anything.(It changed everything.)





	1. Act I, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/158446089@N03/36780839381/in/photostream/)
> 
> The tagged cast is not the full cast; there are spoiler characters! While I'd like to encourage you to go in blind, the spoiler character list is [here](http://nikkariaoe.dreamwidth.org/3073.html).  
> Because I listened to so much music writing this, there's an instrumental mix with corresponding chapters/scenes marked [on suan](http://suan.fm/mix/9SJHAhV).  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 広がる空の下  
> 過去を知り未来見つめ  
> 答え探す旅路へ！  
> Beneath the expanse of the sky  
> To understand our past, with eyes fixed on the future,  
> We go on a journey to find the answers!  
>   
> -Shall I Talk About the Old Days?/昔の話をしましょうか (Kaoling)  
> 

He met them for the first time in a garden, where sunflowers stood proud above rows of flowers and herbs, each meticulously labelled with wooden stakes. The midday sun cast long shadows as the cicadas droned in the background, heralding in the long days of summer.

Taken in by the running his hands through the rows of sunflowers, he hardly noticed when he bumped into a boy that looked about his age with a basket of vegetables gathered up in his hands. The boy shot him an irritated look.

“Watch where you’re going,” he said, then continued on, back towards the main road.

“Don’t mind him,” another voice called to him. He turned towards it. “He’s just angry that duel practice was cancelled.”

A girl with long hair and a wide-brimmed straw hat dug her trowel into the earth beside the second boy, lines of dirt streaking her face and staining her knees where she knelt. She looked up at him briefly, pink eyes meeting pale green, then turned away again, dropping a few seeds into the hole she had made.

He smiled; she no longer noticed. He turned that friendly smile on the other boy instead. “Ah, no, it’s fine.”

The second boy looked him over once, then twice. “I’m Yuuto. This is Ruri, and the rude one is Shun. What’s your name?”

“Dennis,” he replied, and Yuuto nodded approvingly while he walked carefully between rows of new growth over to Dennis.

“Nice to meet you, Dennis.” Yuuto held out a hand. Dennis took it, shook it firmly.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

Yuuto sent a long glance over Dennis’ shoulder, then shook his head- presumably at the retreating Shun. “If you’re not in a hurry, would you mind helping us out? We don’t have much to offer in return, but we can offer a place to sleep, and Ruri’s a great cook.”

The girl- Ruri, made a surprised chirp and shook her head. “No, not at all…”

“It would just be for a few days, if you have the time to spare,” Yuuto elaborated, and Dennis took a moment to consider. According to his information, the walk to the nearest town would be several hours away. He was tired, his feet ached, and it had been days since he had exchanged a real conversation with anyone but the ghosts of himself.

“I’m sure you’re a great cook,” he said, and Ruri averted her gaze, pushed her trowel very determinedly into the ground. “And I’ve been looking for somewhere to stay since early this morning. I think I’ll have to take you up on that.”

“Great,” said Yuuto, then, a little more sheepishly- “Mind starting now?”

The southern earth was soft and yielded easily to his touch. He'd never worked the fields, but this little corner was more a vegetable garden than anything, and a row of seedlings sat neat and orderly beside the mounded rows.  It was simple enough work, Dennis thought, watching Ruri as she transplanted one after the other, and set about copying her.

After all the seedlings in immediate reach had been planted, Dennis became aware of eyes on him. He glanced over- not Ruri, who was still intently digging trowel into earth across from him. The gaze was at his side, and he turned as he shuffled down the row. A large dog sat at the base of the scarecrow, sniffing at the air. Dennis glanced away, refocusing on the work before him, but the gaze returned, persistent and almost unnerving in its intensity.

Dennis turned again, no longer trying to be subtle. The dog was staring at him. He cocked his head at the dog, who mirrored him before it clambered to its feet, shaking off its golden, shaggy fur. It pressed its nose to the ground as it took a few steps towards him. Suddenly it stopped, then glanced just beyond him, amber eyes glowing in the light. Before his eyes the dog burst into a shower of silver, glimmering warm in the late afternoon. Dennis turned his head to watch as the sparks danced against the wind, gathering piece by piece a heart again in its owner's chest.

Yuuto sent him a glance, a self-conscious embarrassment written clear across the bend of his shoulders. Dennis shrugged- a bit of open curiosity was far from the most dangerous thing he'd seen in his travels- but Yuuto pulled his straw hat lower over his eyes and scurried off with a muttered "sorry".

Across the patch, Ruri sighed and set down her trowel. "It's kind of early, but I'm going to get dinner ready. I'll have someone come and call you when it's ready." Dennis nodded, as she climbed to her feet, she muttered, voice carried too far by a sudden gust- "Because _some people_ apparently need an excuse to actually socialize."

Dennis very politely refrained from mentioning that she too had been virtually silent to him. There had been much stranger arrangements over the course of his travels, after all.

* * *

True to Ruri's word, Shun arrived not an hour later, offering to show him in for dinner with a noticeably better demeanor.

He spared a last glance for his work, oddly satisfied by the labor, however menial, before following Shun to the small house set near what he figured was the front of the property. They slipped in the open back door, stepping into a kitchen filled with old wood stained by use and brightly decorated with a strange collection of chipped vases filled with flowers and yellow fabric shades, bunched up at the sides of the windows. Immediately Dennis could feel the crackling warmth of the kitchen, its source a small, contained fire at the far end of the room.

Ruri stood at their small open stovetop, looking worn as a relic despite the newness of the technology, stirring a pot with one hand and humming a strangely familiar melody as she did. Yuuto stood beside her chopping up vegetables, hand straying slow towards the carrots on the far edge of the board.

“Yuuto,” Ruri chided, poking away a straying hand with the clean end of the wooden spoon, “Stop it."

The crow on Yuuto’s shoulder squawked, ruffling its feathers. Yuuto cast her a sheepish glance, then nudged his heart to the floor where it swelled to a retriever, nose to the air. Across the room, Shun gave him a good-natured glare.

“I’m sorry,” Yuuto said, ducking his head, “It’s my favorite! If I leave it, you’re going to eat it all.”  

“You can’t eat it all by yourself,” Ruri said, dropping in the potato slices, “especially since you weren't on cooking duty today. And we have a guest!"

Ruri stirred the pot, then leaned down to pat Yuuto’s retriever causally on the head. Dennis looked abruptly away. There was a table at the more open end of the room, and he settled down in one of the four chairs surrounding it. In the kitchen, the easy chatter carried on. The stew was done before Dennis was done fully taking in the cluttered home- a mishmash of decorations and furniture that all looked equally tattered and used, like items passed on down the generations but whose care had been neglected, trinkets that could have been found on the side of the road yet that had clearly been recently restored.

As Yuuto doled out portions on chipped platters, he directed the chatter towards Dennis, whatever shyness that had earlier beset them apparently gone. “How long have you been travelling?” Yuuto asked, and Dennis considered a moment to count the days.

“About a month. I started out in Standard, but I’ve been visiting a lot of places in Xyz.”

“On foot?” Yuuto asked, and Dennis nodded. Yuuto gave him a little wince that was probably supposed to be sympathetic. Dennis only returned it with a noncommittal shrug. It was never the walking that he had minded about travelling.

“So where exactly are you going?” Ruri asked over the rim of a pristine but mismatched teacup.

Dennis shrugged. “Nowhere.”

“Nowhere at all?” Ruri asked, her voice lilting in that soft way that spoke volumes of how hard she found that to believe.

“Everyone’s going somewhere,” Yuuto chimed in. Dennis got the sense that he was just barely stopping himself from waving his fork, honeyed carrot speared on the end, a little chidingly at him for his lie.

He said, shrugging again, “You aren’t.”

“That’s because we’re already home," Ruri said, bright. Across the table, Shun rolled his eyes.

"I think he already knows that, Ruri." Ruri clicked her tongue and proceeded to wave her fork at him.

The rest of the dinner passed in much the same way- menial conversation, kind inquiries about where he had been and what kind of people he had met. Dennis was more than happy to tell them stories, to capture their wide-eyed attention with his tales of Old Maiami in current Standard and the odd customs of a little mountain village he had stayed in a week just a month prior.

Before any of them realized, all they were left with was a few scraps between them, traded away and gathered up quickly.

“Here,” said Ruri, holding out a plate of the bread scraps, “Put these out for the birds. There’s a feeder out by the front window.”

The hall to the front door was short, right next to the stairs headed to the upper level. Dennis pushed the door open quietly, then poked his head out. There were birds already at the feeder, pecking at the shells of the empty seeds and scraps. Dennis inched forwards, put on quiet airs- he’d disturb them, but there was no need to scare them.

The birds flit to the tree in a flutter of blue at his approach, but stayed low in the branches, watching him with a few chirped melodies- curious and calling warning to their kin, but not frightened. The feeder was no more than a hanging plate with a grate over it, and Dennis made quick work of dumping the new set of bread and seed into it. As soon as he did, a bluebird flit down onto the dish, seemingly unbothered by his presence.

“Wow,” said Ruri from the front door, her voice more a breath of a whisper than anything, “You’re really good with animals.”

Dennis glanced down at the bluebird, then took a few slow steps back. A few more birds fluttered down around the feeder, squabbling amongst themselves for a spot. He shrugged slowly. His reply was just as quiet, scarcely an exhale. “Not really. They just don’t mind me being around as much as other people.”

“I’m jealous,” Ruri said as he reached her side, “They always fly away when I come close.”

“Because you make a racket about it,” said Shun, and Ruri snapped her head towards him with a glare and a loud- “Hey!”

A few of the sparrows, startled, flew back into the shelter of the tree. Shun glanced at them, then pointedly back at Ruri. “See?”

“Okay, fine, but you know that wasn’t fair,” Ruri huffed, then called an apology to the birds before heading back inside. Dennis followed right behind. “I’m going to help Yuuto with the dishes. Show our guest to his room?”

“Got it,” Shun said, and led him up the stairs to the room at the very end of the hall. When he opened the door, Dennis could see that it was clearly already occupied- clothes were strewn over the bed and the backs of chairs, and the half-broken shelves were cluttered with assorted books and memorabilia. Dennis glanced at the titles as they passed- _interesting choices_ , he thought. Nothing but books on spirits and ghosts, the excerpts of the research of Academia’s finest scholars.

“Here,” said Shun, pulling down a rope from the ceiling. A panel fell from hinges, and Shun propped up a ladder that had been leaning out of place against the wall to rest against it. “Hope you don’t mind a climb.”

“No,” said Dennis, attention torn away from the shelves and towards the ladder, “It’s nothing compared to having to scale a few walls to find a place to sleep.”

Shun raised an eyebrow at him- _just what kind of places did you sleep in?_ \- was doubtless the meaning- but Dennis only grinned at him in non-response. Before Shun could ask further, Dennis started up towards the attic, leaving him to follow behind.

The attic room wasn’t dusty or disused, as he had expected. Cluttered with a strange mixture of half-broken things that looked a century old and practical things that looked to be almost new, it was an odd little patchwork room- much like the rest of the house. It left him wondering just how much the children here had inherited, rather than gathered up themselves. Shun climbed up behind him, and Dennis made room for him by stepping further in, towards the window at the far end. “Hope it’s fine, because it’s all we have.”

The bed was more of a hammock than a _bed_ , but Dennis couldn't see fit to complain when he'd spent the last week camping out with a rucksack for a pillow. "Thanks, it's great."

He set down his pack harder than he had meant to, and a few things tumbled out the front. They skittered over the smooth floor, a few sliding beneath desks and shelves, and Dennis immediately dropped to gather them up. Shun helped, fishing out those that had slid the furthest, deepest into the mess.

“Cards?” Shun asked, gathering up the cards illustrated with colorful images of strange creatures. Green, Orange, Black, Purple- Shun flicked through them, and Dennis gathered he wasn’t aware of the dueling game played with them. Unsurprising, given how far away they were from the Capital. Dennis motioned for them, took a few off the top, then clapped his hands and made them disappear into thin air. Shun made a very subtle expression that Dennis, for lack of anything else, interpreted as mildly impressed. “You should show that to Ruri. She’d love it. She’s good at figuring out simple tricks like that.”

Dennis knew a challenge when he heard one. “Oh? I don’t think any of my tricks are quite so easy to figure out.”

“We’ll see about that,” Shun said, and motioned him back down the ladder. Dennis followed him down, tucking his cards into his pocket. Not his usual reason for doing magic, but certainly not a bad one. He’d been missing a challenge.

* * *

“What?” Ruri said, watching him with an intensity that surpassed even her brother’s. “Show me again.”

Dennis obligingly reset the cards, setting them down on the floor between them in two even piles. “And now, for my next trick-“

“You mean the same old trick _again_ ,” Shun called over at them from the kitchen table, though Dennis paid it no mind as he began. He cut his deck in half, then shuffled each side. Ruri pulled five cards from top of the left pile, setting them aside.

“Now, pick a card, any card-“ he said, picking up the other half of the deck, and Ruri stared at the cards with an expression that he thought could burn through them- then finally stopped him at one of his favorites, a magician girl brandishing a trapeze bar like a magic wand. Choice made, Dennis shuffled the deck again, then flawlessly pulled a card from the top and bottom simultaneously, the latter unnoticeable, before setting them into a pile below.

Ruri watched his every move, waiting for him to throw a card into his sleeve or skip a card from the bottom. Even Shun was watching him with one eye, though his heart was a little less subtle, and Dennis could feel the owl’s wide eyes on him from the rafters, where it must have been lurking the entire evening. Once they were all set out, he made them into a neat deck. “You try counting this time.”

One by one Ruri took the top cards off the deck, glancing at them as she went- a fire sprite, a dancer of living water, a creature made from a passing human’s shadow, and his favorite, the masked magician standing atop a trapeze bar- when she got to the fifth card, she stopped. Ruri glared down at it, frustration and amazement flipping fast across her eyes.

“No!” Ruri said, “I didn’t see it! How did you do that?”

Between her fingers was the magician girl card, staring out at them with that mischievous smile.

“A true magician never reveals his secrets,” Dennis replied, though he could see that it clearly wasn't the answer that Ruri wanted.

“I _am_ going to figure this out, even if it kills me!” Ruri declared as Shun snorted at her, and Yuuto paused in the doorway, hands full of dried laundry from the lines outside. His heart padded along beside him, ear cocked upwards as it mirrored Yuuto’s glance towards them. “Or else it’s magic! Actual magic!”

“Did I miss something?” he asked, and Ruri groaned.

Shun said, heart fluttering down beside them, “Only Ruri showing off how gullible she is.”

“I’m not _gullible_ , I just can’t figure out the trick!” she protested, and Yuuto raised an eyebrow at Dennis, who waved a handful of cards before making them disappear into his sleeve in response.

“Ah,” Yuuto said, then shook his head and went to put down the laundry while the siblings bickered without any real bite, more laughter than words. Dennis waited until their friendly debate had settled down, then waved Ruri back over. He pulled a few cards from his pocket, ones that didn’t fit in his deck- strange, sleek images that his heart had never seen fit to take to.

He handed them to her, showed her a simple sleight of hand, then let her loose to practice while Shun and Dennis went to hang their own laundry- more Shun’s than Dennis’. Shun’s owl followed behind them, watching Dennis with the same eyes that Yuuto’s heart had in the afternoon. _No,_ Dennis thought, _watching like it knows something._

It didn’t take them long, Dennis’ subtle haste fueled by a desire to get away from that look on Shun’s heart. They returned to the living room to find Ruri in exactly the position they had left her in. Ruri, noticing their presence, tried to hand back the cards; Dennis waved her away. “Keep them. It’s good to have a set to practice with.”

Ruri tried to protest, but her words were lost to a yawn. Dennis tired suggesting they all head off to sleep, but was cut off by his own yawn, pulling at his words until they were indistinct from one another- but the meaning was understood, and the three of them headed up the stairs. Ruri’s room was first, and she bid them a sleepy good night as she slipped inside. Shun’s was the one before his, the last door on the left before the hallway ended in the door to Yuuto’s room and the ladder to the attic. Shun opened the door, and Dennis waved him a slow farewell.

“Good night,” Dennis said, stifling another yawn with little success. The sun had taken more out of him than he had thought.

“After Ruri picked her card,” Shun said, casual as he stepped through the open door, “you held it at the bottom of the deck and didn’t shuffle it before you put it on the top.”

Dennis was left staring after his back as he shut the door to his room, taken off guard. After a moment, his surprise-lax expression curled into a smile. No one had ever figured out one of his tricks the first time they’d been shown- not even the best. “Not bad, Kurosaki Shun.”

* * *

One day tumbled into two, then three and four. He told himself, waking in the morning to the western sun filtering in through the attic window, that he should move on. Xyz was the largest of Academia’s territories, and there were places far more volatile than this small farmhouse built far from the outskirts of a few gathered houses that passed for town. But this place was useful, a convenient respite from the merciless pace the Professor had sent him off from Academia’s gates at. And beyond the sunlit fields, carried on the wind was the whisper of threads intertwined, an instinct that told him that the lines of fate he sought were near.

Eventually, the extra tasks ran out- the exchange of working hands for food and board became a much more casual exchange of chores, culminating in cooking duty once they found out that Dennis could make anything involving eggs into something that was, in Ruri's words- "a half-step down from gourmet but wait that didn't come out right I didn't mean-".

The inhabitants of that small house did not ask him to leave.

Their home was quiet, an affair just as small as Dennis had initially thought. Maiden, presumed Dragonheart, and Knight Protector- but not a word of warmongering among them. The air here, Dennis thought, sitting on a rickety chair beside the weathered front door, was still crisp and clear, saturated with the midsummer’s heat. He entertained the notion that perhaps the Rebellion would never cross their fragile doorstep. That he would be spurred from this place as all the ones before, and the flames that followed him would never leap the river at the far edge of their farm.

“Once I get my new sword,” Yuuto said, his voice carrying down across the fields, “You won’t be able to pull that kind of move anymore.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Shun replied. Circling over their heads, a hawk cried out, voicing its agreement. On the wind, Ruri’s laughter, softer but just as clear.

“I’m sure as the sun,” came Yuuto’s reply, laced with friendly challenge.

Or perhaps, thought Dennis, watching the trio return with dueling gear strapped tight to their waists, instinct had led them true after all.

* * *

“You should come to duel practice with us,” Yuuto said to him one day, the early morning light casting their shadows long down the dirt road behind them.

Dennis shuffled the baskets of Ruri’s repaired goods in his hands awkwardly. “Ah, no, I don’t really… Well, you’ve seen me! I’m useless with a sword.” It sounded forced. It was what he said word for word to Sakaki Yusho nearly six years ago. Much less childish, but equally uncertain.

 _‘Wrong mask, Macfield,’_ he thought with sudden, cold clarity. Yuuto sent him a subtle glance, noticing the strain, but thankfully refrained from commenting. The gaze of his shepherd dog's heart lingered a while longer, and he knew he had not escaped suspicion, not yet.

“Well, if you want to come and watch, the offer’s always open,” Yuuto said, then dropped the subject as the market came into view, vendors setting their wares at a leisurely pace. They wandered down the aisle to their stall, nothing more than a small table and a workbench. As Dennis laid out the collection of clothes Ruri had sewn over the table, he thought with irritation that his slip up had just made him that much less useful to the fledgling rebellion.

The rest of the day went smoothly, he thought, given the awful start. A slow but steady stream of visitors into the market quickly dulled his simmering irritation beneath smiles real enough and barter and banter entirely honest. Dennis did magic tricks for the children while Yuuto haggled with their parents, and the tabby cat that was his heart lounged lazily in the late-summer sun, watching the passersby with half-lidded eyes.

As the noontime crowd started to wane, Yuuto and Dennis settled back for lunch. Sandwiches of thinly sliced cabbage and vegetables from the garden, sautéed in a simple oil, a light and refreshing meal in the warm day. They were halfway though a mild conversation on the surrounding area when Yuuto stopped mid-sentence, attention stolen away by a passing merchant girl with bolts of fabric strapped to her back. It wasn’t hard to see which bolt had caught Yuuto’s attention, a gorgeous thing of deep red with the hint of a sheen that caught like raindrops in the first rays of sun after a storm.

“Wait,” Yuuto said, calling out to the passerby, “that bolt of fabric. How much do you want for it?”

The girl looked over, then- “Fifty coin.”

“Done,” Yuuto said, scrambling through the pouch he pulled from his waist. Eventually he settled for dumping it all into his splayed palm. Dennis watched as the coin flowed from hand to hand, the girl gently lowering the bolt off her back to hand over to Yuuto.

“Do you mind if I ask,” started the girl, “what you plan to make with it?”

“I was thinking,” Yuuto said, “well, I can’t sew very well. Or, at all, really. But… I was thinking it would be a good color for a dress for someone at home.”

The girl nodded. “I’m sure it’ll look beautiful on them. Are they also going to need thread for it?”

“It’s fine, uh-“

“Sayaka,” said the girl, “seamstress’ apprentice over in Clover Town. Though, um, I mostly just help sell the leftover bolts. But really. If anything turns out to be too hard, let me know. I don’t come to this market very often, but you can find us at the central plaza of the shrine town to the east.”

It meant nothing to Dennis, but Yuuto nodded. “Thank you. If we have any problems, I’ll make sure to make a trip over there.”

Sayaka bade them a pleasant farewell, and Yuuto quickly resumed their earlier conversation, taking a tangent to explain a bit about the shrine town- but Dennis’ gaze lingered on how Yuuto had emptied out his pockets of coin entirely. Though Yuuto never once mentioned the exchange, save to lay a protective hand over the bolt propped against his side of the bench, Dennis noted that it was different from the one he and Dennis had been sharing for sales.

 _A gift,_ he thought, _or just an indulgence?_

* * *

Ruri took a short trip over to help a neighbor with chores the next morning, and Dennis took the time to sleep in. He hadn’t realized just how much his travels had taken out of him until he’d stopped, and with no one to spur him on, he intended to catch up on as much rest as possible. When he woke, it was to the sound of something clattering to the ground below him. He glanced down into Yuuto’s room, saw nothing. Curious, he continued on to Shun’s room, cracked open the door.

“Listen,” Shun hissed, “do you know how hard it is to sew?”

“Uhhh,” said Yuuto, a very resounding _no_. Dennis poked his head into the room, fairly sure of what he’d see-  Yuuto let out a long breath, posture deflating in relief. “Thank the goddesses. I thought you were Ruri.”

Dennis lifted an eyebrow. “How did this happen?”

Threads of various colors were scattered across the floor, many of them half-unraveled and hopelessly tangled up with one another. Cut scraps of deep red fabric were littered equally haphazard around Shun and Yuuto, perched on chairs around the small table at the center of the room.

“Yuuto doesn’t know a thing about sewing is how,” Shun said, dropping a needle atop the heap of red fabric. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Yuuto copied the motion for a moment, then leaned over the table.

“Oh, like you’re any better.”

“Considering I’ve done all the work? Yeah, I am.” Shun waved at the mound of fabric, and that seemed to win him the debate, because Yuuto started re-rolling a spool of thread instead of replying.

“So, if neither of you need my help I’m just going to-“ Dennis got halfway out the door before he was called back.

“Wait,” Yuuto said, “Do you know anything that could help with this?”

Dennis had patched up a few of his clothes before- travelling alone, those kind of skills were basically required- but he’d never sewn anything from scratch before, and judging from the mess before him, neither had they. He shrugged, then stepped careful between the fallen scraps and strings to join them. “Not really, but if you need help, I’m sure I’m better than a certain someone else.”

“Hey,” Shun protested, but gave up the needle and thread all the same.

They worked on it together a few hours, more tearing out stitches than making them (or so it seemed to Dennis) before Ruri announced herself at the front door with a cheery “ _I’m home”_ and they had to scramble to hide the evidence before Ruri could see them.

Ruri opened the door not a moment after they had shoved everything beneath Shun’s bed. She quirked her eyebrows at them, all gathered too nonchalantly on Shun’s floor and so very obviously doing nothing, but rolled her eyes and said nothing about it. “Just letting you know that the Arclights gave me some pastries for helping out with the cleaning.”

They all perked up at the promise of sweets, following Ruri back down to the kitchen. The three boys exchanged a glance behind Ruri’s back, a promise to work again on the dress later. Though at the rate they were going, Dennis thought, it would be a miracle if they finished in any less than two weeks.

 _Two weeks,_ he caught himself thinking, _two weeks_. Two weeks he couldn’t afford to spare when he already had a destination to head towards-

Dennis glanced over his shoulder, a half-instinctive motion, thinking for a moment that he might see someone there, lurking impossible outside the second story window- but there was no one save Yuuto’s heart padding along behind them. He shook his head, turned back to the front.

“Oh,” said Ruri, “that’s right! I was practicing that trick you showed me, Dennis. I think I have it now. Let me show you after dessert.”

“I’m sure you’ll dazzle us,” Dennis said, banishing all thoughts of his assignment with a smile. _This could still be the place. If I move on, I risk missing the start of the Prophecy_.

Ruri laughed off the casual expectation. “Well, I’m not as good as you. Though I think I’ve gotten a lot better, lately,” she said, then ushered them around the table where the pie was waiting.

 _I can’t risk it,_ thought Dennis, then let the thoughts truly melt away with the first taste of smooth cherry jam on his tongue.

* * *

On the last day of the month, a young woman came to the little farmhouse on horseback to deliver a newspaper. Dennis quirked an eyebrow as the other three practically scrambled over each other in their rush to read it, pulling one page from the folds of the next with a haste that Dennis couldn’t help but find comical.

Eventually, with a hawk’s cry of victory, the Kurosakis emerged with the bulk of the pages held careful between their hands. Yuuto rolled his eyes and handed over his pages, then rejoined Dennis at the door.

“Tell me the stories instead?” he asked the delivery woman, his voice too flat to be entirely joking. Dennis guessed that this was the usual state of things when the news was delivered, amused at the thought- a sign he was in the Territories indeed.

The woman started listing off her fingers. “A lot of the usual around here. Looks like most of the crops are coming in well so far, we’re thinking there’s going to be plenty of sun this summer-“ Yuuto and Dennis chuckled, at that- “And there’s talk of Academia’s _administration taxes_ going down. Plus, the Midsummer’s Festival is coming up for the god of the earth. I’m on the planning committee this year; it’s going to be a lot of fun.

“Out by the capital? Not so much,” she continued, brow drawing into a crease. “It’s all secondhand information, since no one at the press can exactly get all the way out there, but… It sounds like things are getting bad.”

Yuuto glanced over his shoulder, where the Kurosakis were pouring over their pages. He asked, “Do I want to know?”

“It’s really not good. There’s stories of strange creatures popping up everywhere, and the whatever countryside they’ve got’s all covered in rot. The King is still silent, but at least Academia hasn’t been touched, I guess. Not that I’m happy about that, exactly, but-” she shrugged halfheartedly- “hey. If the actual capital is going down, then we’ll need somewhere to keep order in this country.”

“Do you think it’s because of the prophecy?” Yuuto asked. The young woman didn't reply, so he prompted- "Akari?"

Akari shook her head, that distant look fleeing from her eyes. “Well, I don’t care, so long as the crumbling and the rot doesn’t reach us all the way out here. I have my grandma and little brother to think about, now.”

“It won’t,” Yuuto said, with a confidence that Dennis wished he could say the same of. “I’m sure there’s some heroes out there right now trying to fulfill the new prophecy.”

Dennis glanced out at the horizon. This far from the ocean, he could not see the pillars of prophecy that levitated out over the sea, untouched by the waves that raged below. But he knew their mark, the weight that they carried- even now, the heavy expanse of the sky was still between his shoulders. He had stopped feeling it, in the quiet days here; abruptly it crashed back atop him.

“Ah,” said Akari, her voice flat, “those prophecies. Once they started taking a turn for the worse, I stopped following them. Not a big fan myself, obviously, but. Eh. If they keep my family safe and hopefully uninvolved, I’m not going to complain.”

“They’ll be making the world a better place. Safer and sturdier. The way my grandpa used to say that it should be,” Yuuto said with that determination of steel, and Akari nodded, slowly.

“Well, as long as it does its job for longer than the last one did, I’ll be happy,” she said, then glanced up at the sky, throwing up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. “I miss the moon, sometimes.”

Akari bid them a short farewell after that, then mounted her horse waiting for her at the road- though heart or animal, Dennis couldn’t tell, and started off towards the main town down the road.

* * *

Well into the afternoon, Dennis and Yuuto stopped at a bakery at the outskirts of town proper, Shun and Ruri having gone back ahead to start preparing dinner and give Dennis and Yuuto an excuse to pick up the last of the lace and ribbon they needed to finish Ruri’s dress.

The bakery itself was a quiet little place, down to its last few scraps and pieces of leftover bread that had been sliced that morning. They dashed in as the shopkeep was about to close, and the older woman sighed but let them in to browse.

Yuuto grabbed a few small things- the end of a loaf, a few buns one day old, and two slices of dark bread.

“Five coin,” said the baker, and Yuuto made a face before shuffling the things in his arms around, trying to reach the small pouch of coins tied around his waist- the one they had shared at the market.

"Ah, hold this?" Yuuto handed his sword off to Dennis fast and a little haphazardly, and Dennis automatically brought it into a safer grip. Even though the ends were mostly blunted by age, Dennis thought, that was reckless. At his feet his tabby heart hissed, a momentary irritation at his uncharacteristic clumsiness.

Yuuto counted out the coin, then shook his head. It was a different pouch than before, Dennis noted, one that looked much more worn. The second one that Yuuto had used that day at the market, and what Dennis had since gathered to be his personal coin.

“You can’t buy it?” Dennis asked, with genuine surprise. Even in his days with Yusho’s Rebellion, where coin had always been short and supplies stretched thin between families, they had never been short on the necessities. Then again, the Sakakis had been of noble blood, had drawn in support from their vast contacts across not only their native Territory but as far as the capital. He doubted anyone this far in the countryside could even think to boast something of such prestige.  

Yuuto shrugged, casual and resigned. The irritation underlying in his voice was anything but. “Academia is in charge of collecting the taxes for this area to relay to the capital. We either give them their extra cut or starve. You’ve probably noticed, but none of us have parents anymore. We just have to do what we can on our own.”

He had wondered, but he knew best as anyone not to ask, not to stir up things that people would have much rather left in the past. He wasn’t so dissimilar.

Dennis pulled his own pouch, tried to hide the contents from Yuuto as he shifted through for the proper amount- but he couldn't hide the size, the weight of it. Yuuto raised an eyebrow. "If you're that rich, why are you travelling?"

He said it without offense, without judgment- just that blunt curiosity of his.

"I have to," Dennis replied, "There's not much of a home left for me to go back to."

Yuuto glanced away again. "Ah. Sorry. I know the feeling. Not now, but... Before."

They stood in awkward silence a moment as they waited, neither seeing fit to try and pry. As it was, Dennis figured, they had already pushed the boundaries too far. They were acquainted only in the present, after all. Neither of them were the type for exchanging tales of the past, though Dennis suspected that it was for drastically different reasons.

“You going to pay for that?” the baker asked, and Dennis handed over the coin, silent moment broken entirely.

“Sorry,” he said, flashing a bright smile, “took a moonlit stroll down memory lane.”

The shopkeep rolled their eyes but took the coin and waved them off. She muttered, quiet under her breath- “What do you kids know about the moon,” though the way she spoke of it was not unkind. Just nostalgic. A little wistful, perhaps.

Dennis tried not to think on it long. Things were as they had to be, and that was that.


	2. Interlude A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beautiful/Peaceful.  
> A dream of Four.

Kurosaki Ruri had the most beautiful of dreams.

They played out behind her eyes like stories from a storybook of her childhood, read to her in a voice that she had begun to forget outside of the sleepy words she clung so desperately to. A heat haze slipping through her fingers, words that built themselves up with complex smells and sights and textures that all faded to a senseless matte upon waking. Flashes of people, places, incredible feats that never in her waking mind had she ever imagined. Cityscapes that dazzled in their towering height, the sight of the twilight sun where it met the edge of the ocean.

“ _ Someday,” _ she said, with a certainty more like truth than dream, _ “I’ll go see what’s beyond that horizon _ .”

Waking, startled, tucked carefully into her blankets. Heavy curtains drawn, the water-stained wood of the ceiling. The familiar sights of home. Eyes slipped closed, the allure of quiet sleep drawing her back in with little resistance. She always did have the most peaceful of dreams.

And in this dream she stood before a precipice, the wind whipping around her. The water shone and sparkled around her as the sun backlit her, casting her long shadow across the great expanse of gentle waves.

“ _ Watch me _ ,” she dared the crowds, the masses gathered at the bottom of the ravine-

And the world turned its eyes towards her. 

She had finally, finally, become someone worth watching. She took a breath- one, two. Trapped in the quiet, the anticipation before the fall. She stepped out into the open air, and let the wind take her.

(The world went silent, and then it  _ howled. _ )

Words, spoken rough on the tongue like a bitter memory- "When a goddess shatters," she said, all confidence and bravado that she wished she could feel in the waking world, "they shatter into four pieces.”

Pause, listen. Hear how the audience waited with bated breath. Step, fall, land atop a heart falling to form with flecks of silver amongst the white. Speak, loud- make those hopes and dreams a command to the world and the fate drawn amongst the stars by distant gods-

“And I'm the fourth."


	3. Act I, Part 2

There was a rebellion brewing, and Dennis could taste it in the air, feel it rushing underfoot. He had only been a child in the days of Sakaki Yusho’s rebellion, but he could still remember the way defiance welled up in the people. It was a good quality in a spy, he was told- to remember. To keep the details clear and see the signs of unrest as they threaded through between the people.

Dennis saw it thrum strong under Shun’s skin, saw it in the talons and the sharp eyes of the falcon that was his heart- and it was there with Ruri, too, a kind heart and an honest bravery that would have the potential rebels flocking to her like moths to a flame.

Ruri stood at the counter chopping vegetables with Yuuto, while Shun sat at the table, sketching something on a torn piece of paper with intense concentration and charcoal-stained fingers. Dennis leaned over his shoulder, and it was a testament to how focused he was that Shun didn’t care. Most of the scrap was covered with black smudges and a series of crossed out shapes. The only exception was the emblem Shun was sketching out now, filling in the outlines with broad strokes.

“What are you drawing?” Dennis asked, still leaning over his shoulder. Shun didn’t look away from his work.

“A crest,” he said, “a symbol.”

He didn’t have to elaborate for what purpose- he was already lost to the budding rebellion. He turned to Ruri and Yuuto, laughing over something Ruri had said- and Yuuto would follow him, the same way that best friends give in to each other’s bad ideas. So too would Ruri, drawn in by the promise of a better tomorrow, where Academia was but a memory, gone with the setting sun.

 _Foolish, foolish_ , thought Dennis, and knew that instinct had led him right again. Aloud, he said, “Doesn’t look half bad.”

Shun huffed a noncommittal response; Dennis pulled away. It was clear he’d get no say in Shun’s daydreamed design.

 _You will live a life of war,_ said an old echo in his head, and he silenced it with a rare scowl. He vanished it away before turning back to the kitchen. He had the threads. The last step was to tie them all together. _Maiden, Knight Protector… and Dragonheart._

All that remained was the trigger. Dennis clenched his gloved hands, ignoring the ache in his left palm, old and familiar. He smiled, joined in easy on Yuuto and Ruri’s conversation. In his head, timed with the steady thrum of his heart, he began to count the days.

* * *

The next morning found him joining Yuuto on his morning walk, more intercepted than anything. He’d found the heroes of the prophecy; there was only so much longer he could dawdle without Academia catching on. His heart curled over his shoulders, ferret fur brushing the back of his exposed neck. Another one of Yuuto’s hounds kept pace beside them, paws tapping light over the dirt roads between the fields.

“Shun wanted to be the one to ask you,” Yuuto started, and Dennis knew immediately that this was his chance, “but I’m going to do it, because there are things I don’t think Shun realizes yet.”

Yuuto took a breath. What passed on his next breath wasn’t the opportunity that Dennis had waited for. “The way you act, Dennis… You were involved in Sakaki Yusho’s rebellion, weren’t you?”

Dennis’ blood ran abruptly cold.  His heart leapt from his shoulders and landed graceful with tabby cat’s paws, hackles beginning to rise. For all his rampant idealism, Dennis thought, Yuuto was dangerously observant.

“I was,” Dennis replied, trying to gauge how much Yuuto knew.

“So you knew him.”

The memories came hard and fast, unbidden. A card trick, played for the children when their caretakers were distracted. Lingering in the long shadows cast by the makeshift tents, straining his ears to catch word of anything that could possibly halt the growing Rebellion in its tracks. Sakaki Yuuya’s cries as the entertainer’s heart was rippedaway, father’s body falling limp into son’s arms.

He remembered, clearly, the day that ended it all.

Dennis took a breath. “I did.”

There was a pause, Yuuto gathering his words. Dennis continued- “What gave me away?”

Yuuto glanced away, staring just over Dennis’ shoulder. Dennis wondered what he had done, if Yuuto couldn’t meet his eyes. And here he had been so certain that Academia had stifled all his tells. Yuuto said, finally, “It was just a lot of little things. When I handed you a sword, you held it right. And… everyone knows that Sakaki Yusho was a court entertainer.”

Dennis’ turn to raise an eyebrow. Sakaki had been influential at his height, an entertainer with the sensibilities of a statesman- but he hadn’t been aware that the man’s influence had extended so far into the countryside. His supposed proof was far too flimsy; Dennis had walked straight into a trap of his own making.

“There are plenty of entertainers good with weapons,” Dennis replied, “especially when we’re travelling by ourselves, you know.”

Yuuto only raised an eyebrow at his protests made too late- he’d already given himself away. And there was no harm in it, he supposed. He’d have his excuse to linger. He said, “I don’t really like to talk about it.” It wasn’t hard to muster up the reluctance.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pull up more bad memories than I had to.”

Dennis shook his head and smiled. It carried all of his usual warmth. “Don’t worry about it. There really aren’t that many. I was a kid. I wasn’t fighting on the front lines.”

“It never seemed like Yusho was that kind of man, but…”

“He wasn’t.”

Yuuto glanced over at him again, trying to read the meaning behind that sharp tone. It wasn’t one that Dennis used often, one that pulled that vein Academia carved into him too close to the surface. Dennis smoothed it over quickly, melted it away with a mild look. Yuuto watched a moment, but continued, “Well. You should join us for dueling practice, sometime. The Arclights run it. They’re all trained in different fighting styles. You should make sure you can defend yourself.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Dennis said, and Yuuto dropped it. Together they walked back to the house in silence, companionable enough. Still, Dennis thought as they walked, Shun’s enthusiasm was not Yuuto’s. A trigger would change that. Dennis let his hand slip through a line of bright green stalks beginning to wither, their leaves turning brittle and brown. He’d delayed long enough. Once he had some time to himself, he had a message to send.

* * *

In the end, he joined them for dueling practice not a week later.

The instructor, a man with light, long hair and a rather serious, imposing manner about him, looked him over once then handed him a blade. "You've had practice. I won’t ask, but you're in the line on the left."

Dennis accepted it with a nervous smile, wondering how the instructor had been able to tell so easily. As he joined the line, he chalked it up to what must have been the years of experience they had.

The left line was small, made up of only his group and a few others, both adults and teenagers who seemed to be around Dennis or Ruri's age. It was basics, for the most part- forms, strikes that Dennis had been made to practice a hundred times over. He considered fumbling a few, if only to look more at the skill level of someone like Yuuto- but a single knowing glance from the instructor kept him from it. Still, he could hide the particular flourishes of Academia’s style, pretend that the ruthless precision of his training there wasn’t threatening to boil over and make itself known, to end the whole charade before it could properly begin.

After a brief break, they broke off to spar- Ruri with a boy her age with bright eyes and a gentle curl to his hair, Yuuto with a flashy young swordsman with a bravado Dennis couldn't help but grudgingly respect, and Dennis with Shun. The instructor handed them wooden swords with the too-casual warning that anything went, so long as they didn't break anything.

"I'm not going easy on you," said Shun, and Dennis could see a competitive streak rearing its head in the way Shun stood across the circle across from him, already waiting for a misstep that Dennis wouldn't make.

"Oh? I think I should be saying that to you," said Dennis with a matching challenge, wondering if that earlier warning was aimed more at him or Shun. He fought down a grin at the thought of finding out. Shun narrowed his eyes as the instructor waved for them to begin, then came at him with a friendly determination, sharp around the edges but without the particular drive of the students in Academia's special courses. He was faster on his feet than Dennis expected- charging him confident and without the feints he had come to expect. Dennis parried easily, then fumbled a bit on regaining his balance. No need to show off his training in a place like this, he reminded himself. Better to have his fun and relax into a friendly match.

Shun was sharp without being overly flashy, had a skill that kept Dennis aware of him, guessing every move he might make as they exchanged blows. Without the threat of a grade hanging over his head, the match sent a simple exhilaration through Dennis' veins, the same hyper-awareness and easy flash of instinct he got during a show. Shun was good, Dennis thought, for someone who'd never seen a real fight.

Dennis smiled, the expression pulled from him parallel that air of challenge- but enough with testing the waters. Dennis charged him head-on, and Shun steeled himself to take the impacts.

One strike, two- Shun reached up too high to parry, and _there-_ at the last moment Dennis spun, struck him in the side with the dull wood.

"Match!" Called the instructor, and Shun lowered his sword with a hiss.

"You're not half-bad," said Shun, and Dennis shrugged.

“I’ve had a lot of practice. You need it when you’re travelling on your own.” Shun seemed to accept that with a brief nod. Yuuto and Ruri’s matches went on a bit longer, and they retreated to the sidelines to watch the results- Yuuto walking over to them tired but triumphant, Ruri a bit less so.

"I lost," Ruri muttered, crossing her arms.

"Because you can't keep your guard up," Shun chided, "You always attack before you're actually ready, and your opponent throws you off balance."

"I know that!"

"Then stop doing it." Ruri glared up at Shun, and Dennis thought to step between them, not sure if the siblings would actually argue and unwilling to find out- but Shun shook his head. “I know. You’re doing fine.”

Ruri huffed, but soaked up the praise. “I know. I’m better when I can use my heart. Besides,” she said, casting a pointed glance at Dennis, before returning to her brother, “I saw your match. You’ve got a long way to go too.”

“Yeah,” Shun agreed, “We do.”

Ruri’s heart, a sparrow sitting atop her head, chirped a merry agreement. “Okay,” she said, holding her wooden sword up in challenge, “the two of us this time.”

“Fine,” Shun said, “but I’m not going easy on you.” His hawk flew from his arm to circle the skies above their heads as they made their way back towards the training grounds. Dennis watched them go.

“I would be offended if you did,” said Ruri, sounding very much as if she meant it.

A few echoed words rattled around his skull, sentences half-formed from notions and sentiments he’d yet to put voice to, yet to let flow across a page. _That’s the best thing you could do for each other, now._

* * *

“We’re going to visit the shrine.”

The room turned collective heads in Ruri’s direction at the announcement. Dennis thought, briefly, of the great shrine to Clover Town in the west that Yuuto had told him of in the weeks earlier. Dedicated to the goddess of harvest and earth, of blossom and sun. The elder of the two sisters, the kinder and, varying by account, the more curious. _When distinctions like that mattered,_ thought Dennis.

“It’s an adventure,” Ruri continued, with that particular set of her voice that said there would be no arguments. “The world is huge! Let’s go explore a little bit of it.”

“Do we have to do this now?” Shun asked, and Ruri leapt to answer.

“Yes! Absolutely yes. This is the best time of year to go do it! It’s not too hot and all the fieldwork’s been done, so what’s the problem?”

Shun’s hawk hopped over to him, looking oddly harmless and inviting for a bird of prey. Shun rolled his eyes and picked it up from the table, and with a soft shimmer of gold it sank back into his chest, though not before a final squawk of protest.

“See?” Ruri said, “Now you _have_ to come with us.”

Shun rolled his eyes. “I don’t. But I will.”

Ruri smiled, only a little smugness pulling at the edges of it. "So it's settled! Tomorrow, at the shrine. I'll make us a lunch and we'll all visit for good fortune. You know that fortune teller told me that my fate had gotten mixed up with a stranger’s. I’m not going to ask _Academia_ to fix it for me.”

“Ah,” Yuuto said, without bite, “so that’s the real reason.”

Ruri just crossed her arms. “You would do the same thing,” she said, and Yuuto shrugged, defeated. “So it’s settled. Tomorrow we’re all going to the shrine.”

* * *

Ruri insisted that they dressed their best, and Dennis privately wondered if she had arranged the excursion just as an excuse to wear her new dress- but Dennis himself never missed a chance to dress up, so he supposed he couldn’t complain.

The shrine, Dennis soon found, was the main attraction of the tiny town to the southwest, little more than a few shops and homes on dirt roads set between the intersection of a few large farms.

The gates of the shrine were old and weathered, and snaking vines filled the cracks where the wood had begun to splinter, driving each side of the split further and further apart. If they had been out from the town any more, Dennis thought, glancing quick over his shoulder to the bustling plaza just a street-length down, he would have thought the place abandoned. As it was, he turned his gaze back and glanced at the vines, leaves rustling soft in the wind. A fragment of wood near eye level splintered and fell off with a gust of it.

Ruri, exasperated with his slowness, grabbed his hand and pulled him through the gate. Dennis tore his gaze away. There were a few dozen steps up to the shrine proper, and by the time they were at the top, they were breathing hard and eager to take a seat at one of the benches set inside the main gates. Clouds had covered the sun, fluffs of white streaking intermittently across the sky.

As they caught their breath Dennis took in the atmosphere- quiet and calming in their openness, unlike the rigid stone churches dedicated to the god of the heavens that so pervaded Fusion. Trees stood inside the open-air complex, and the interior was unpaved gravel, shifting beneath their feet. Where it could be afforded, things were gilded in gold, sparking low in the sun, bathed in the color of their god. The tolling of a great bell echoed over the low hills, light and not unpleasant despite its frequency.

“Okay, our turn,” said Ruri, “Let’s go up and ring the bell.”

The bell itself was at the top of a long rope, set up into the complex a bit and shadowed heavily by the overhang that supported it. The four went up the steps together, stood before it while Ruri spoke a quiet prayer. “For our futures and the strength of our lines of fate. For fluid hearts and good health. For bountiful harvest and the happiness of all we meet…”

Dennis stopped paying attention as a light flickered overhead, dancing downwards in a spiral not so unlike the way the pieces of a heart chased after their owner. Further down the pieces swirled, falling and collecting and falling to shards again, glittering faintly in silver like something out of Dennis' faintest memories- and then, right at the moment Dennis felt that if he were to reach out he would touch them, they vanished.

"Did you notice that?" Dennis muttered to Shun, leaning over his shoulder. Shun shoved him back with a nudge, gentle but firm.

"Don't mess around," he muttered back, and Dennis returned to his place, gazing around the quiet complex with one eye open. He tried not to attract attention as he looked for anyone that had seen the flash of light- but no one in the complex was lined up behind them, and no eyes met his from the anonymous crowd. He glanced up into the rafters instead, windowless and solid.

"You really didn't see it?" Dennis asked again as they stepped down, and Shun shook his head. But, Dennis thought, that should have been impossible- the light had settled over Shun, bright and impossible in that moment the bell had tolled. Out of place, cold and distant in the golden world. Unable to decide on its purpose, he vowed to think on it.

Out of the shrine again, they stopped for a while in the town below, eating the lunch that Ruri had packed in a small, tree-lined park. Late afternoon found them walking through the main street to window shop. It was, all things considered, a peaceful day, light and relaxing.

They split up on the most crowded of the streets, lined with vendors and entertainers trying to make a few coin off of the assembled tourists. Shun had gone off to find someone to ink his design onto a scrap of fabric leftover from Ruri’s dress, while Yuuto and Ruri had headed off to find the source of a succulent smell that even Dennis, waiting for them, had grown tempted to go off and find himself.

The crowd laughed, bantered, shrieked in delight turned to horror as the peaceful afternoon was suddenly and violently disturbed. Dennis felt the shake of the earth, and knew exactly what it meant. He closed his eyes as the shadow of the beast drowned out the sun, and knew that the end had come. The dragon cried out, and Dennis could do nothing but watch as the townspeople fled, pushing past him with blind intensity to be away from the boy with the dragon’s heart.

 _Academia,_ he thought, watching the roof of a brick building shudder and fall in on itself, _is getting impatient_. Idly he tried to count the days that he’d spent in the quiet of the Kurosaki family home- a week, another, a handful of days- too long, grown too used to a lackadaisical sort of peace.

“ _Get down_!” came a sudden yell, urgent, and Dennis dropped down without question, diving hard onto the dirt road. An arrow flew over him, embedded itself hard into a wooden board leaning against the shop where he had just stood.

Dennis’ gaze flashed to the source- but any threat he could have seen was lost to the flow of the panicked crowd as they pushed down the street. He sprung back to his feet. Again his gaze turned to the dragon, drawn there as if against his will- a black silhouette against the white-streaked sky.

"There you are," said a voice from behind him, and Dennis struggled against his instinct to jump around and pin them to the wall- this was a voice that he knew, and a voice that had no idea what side he was really on. He turned slow and met a concerned face, drawn tight with worry.

“Come on,” Shun said, grabbing his hand and dragging him away, “You’ll get killed if you stay here.” Having mistaken his stationary resolve for fear, Shun dragged him on, Dennis falling into step instinctively. Still better to play the fool, he thought.

People ran alongside them as Yuuto and Ruri joined them, pressed close as they dared in the jumbled mass. People screamed, names and horrid noises of confusion in the highest octaves- at the edges of the roads, people stood frozen in their doorframes, staring out at the dragon that flew low enough in the sky to block out the sun and cast them all in dark shadow. The bravest souls fired arrows, sent their hearts careening into the skies to peck and claw at the dragon’s smooth skin- but all were met with acid and the harsh rot of flesh as it dissolved at the contact.

A man fell flat to the ground beside them; though they slowed they could not stop, pushed on by the crowd around them. Then, clear through the cacophony- “Help!”

“Wait,” Ruri yelled, veering abruptly to the side, towards the fading flames, an unsteady wall teetering on the edge of collapse. Dennis strained to see beyond her back as she raced to it, ducked through the wooden supports as they groaned and snapped inside the remains of the building.

“Ruri, no!” Yuuto yelled, and his heart turned lean and fast, a greyhound sprinting to Ruri- but it would never take the weight of the heavy tiled ceiling.

Shun dropped Dennis’ wrist, the eagle on his shoulder flying after the greyhound, so close to Ruri’s side-

The wall gave out with a crackle of flame. Ruri threw her body over something, and Yuuto’s hound stood behind her, glowing, glinting, growing in the blaze of the flames with a hard edge-

The wall gave out, and for a moment, Dennis could see nothing but ash and dust. Shun’s heart veered towards the sky with a piercing cry- something not quite grief, a panic tinged with self-directed anger.

The dust ballooned outwards in a great cloud, and the world held its breath as the flames flickered and cracked a frantic tempo to the settling of the disturbed earth, waiting for the curtain to fall- but as the dust fell to the ground, the curtain swept open, instead.

The light reflected on the bright sheen of polished armor, catching on smooth plates without a hint of grime. A circle of brick and broken beams radiated outwards in a circle from where the knight stood, sheltering two hunched-over figures in its frame. Slowly it took a graceful step back, and Ruri pulled her head up from where she was cradling the girl who had cried out, blinking away the dust on her eyelashes and releasing a long held breath-

And despite the smoke and ash floating on the wind, the sun still shone down upon them as the dragon melted away, bright and unaware of the destruction that had been wrought on the world below.

Shun, Dennis, Yuuto- the three of them raced towards Ruri, yelling words of concern as the world returned to itself, as Yuuto’s heart melted away in shimmers of silver. But she did not answer, staring down at the girl she had risked her life to try and save.

“Are you okay?” Ruri asked, pulling back from the girl half-cradled in her arms. The girl did not reply, coughing the soot up from her lungs.

“It’s them,” the gathered children whispered, awe curling their words, “It’s the ones from the prophecy!”

Dennis glanced down at them- acknowledgement, the first step towards Rebellion-

Inside the smouldering ruin, the girl spoke.

“Oh,” said Sayaka, staring up at Ruri with wide eyes, “you’re the girl in the red dress.”


	4. Interlude B

Four blessings. In her dreams, Ruri saw this: four places, four locations set out of time and glistening in a mysterious silver and gold, tantalizing and cool.

From front, behind came whispers, quiet voices beckoning her close. To look, to touch, to fall into the secrets of each hidden world. _Listen_ , they called, _feel the power born of your blood, so tied to me._

The voices of gods, speaking to the Maiden of prophecy. The voices that Ruri had always forgotten upon waking, lost to the fading, hazy memory of dreams that always seemed to belong to someone, someplace far away. _Listen_ , spoke one, calling out with sweetness and power, _Listen_.

And such the wind carried her, catching her wide white wings as they flapped powerful and bright beneath the light of the moon and stars, loose feathers falling across the open sky. She knew not the places that she flew, only that the rotted countryside spanned out flat before her like a map traced in old and faded ink, paper yellowed and worn with the passage of time. Beside her flew a dragon, an invisible bulk above the stormclouds that dwarfed even her own heart as they tracked east, east, forever towards the horizon. And then, without the memory of landing, her feet were on solid ground and her stomach was protesting the lack of weightless flight again.

Before her stood a church, a place of grey stone pristine and imposing. And when she stood there in her dreams, in that shifting memory of a distant future, a shadow of a life living beyond the death of the moon, she listened to her own words, an echo indistinguishable from the white noise of the crumbling around her, and-

Ruri woke, blinking to slow awareness. She knew not of what she dreamt, only that the dream had seemed to shift halfway through. She moved slowly, trying to get used to the feeling of her own body again. Her dreams had a way of shaking her, of making her own hands before her eyes look foreign and strange, that had her waking with phantom sensations trailing down to the tips of her fingers like chills.

From outside came a quiet commotion- “Maiden!” she heard, an unfamiliar voice crying loud in desperation. Soon after, the sound of Shun shooing them away from their door- or perhaps simply quieting the hopeful rebel. She knew just as well as any of them that the moment the Resistance put a name to their Rebellion, so too would Shun be off to join them.

 _Maiden_. Maiden of Wind and Wing, the symbol of Rebellion. Ruri lifted her hand to the ceiling, counted the cracks in the ceiling between the gaps of her fingers.

_If I do this… If this is what I decide on, then…_

Ruri closed her eyes again, let her hand drop back beside her on the bed. _What I decide on, huh? That’s a much nicer way of saying ‘your fate is all wrong’._


	5. Act II, Part 1

The people flocked to them. News was currency to the people of Xyz, and hope drew onlookers in casual droves to the quiet house down the road from a tiny little village with no real name.

“You’re the maiden,” they told Ruri, awe in their eyes and quiet in their voices, and Ruri’s soft nods become quiet affirmations with the number of them.

“Then it’s finally time,” said the whispers of blades drawn from scabbards on the wind, carried down to them through the travelers who tried to pretend that this was not what they had come for.

Every thought, every emotion hung visceral in the air, ready to turn to action with only the barest hint of a thought. It was what they had waited for, what their frayed patience had finally culminated in- a beast about to take glorious flight. Dogs sitting at the feet of their owners bared their teeth, fur pricked in anticipation, and people mounted hearts turned to horses, hooves testing the ground as if waiting to break into a gallop. The world, it seemed, was ready to move.

"Are you-" asked one of the woman passing on foot, her heart a squirrel hiding behind her feet, chewing nervously on a half-devoured nut.

"Please," said Yuuto, apologetic but firm, "this is our home."

Yuuto turned up the drive without a backwards glance. Dennis followed, shrugging with a blank smile. The woman bit her lip but hurried down the road, the baskets in her arms bouncing against each other. But he couldn't help but watch her back as she went, shoulders hunched and pace hurried. She moved with the airs of a woman who'd just lost it all and could only move- forwards, forwards, forever on.

Dennis stepped into the house, and her frame vanished from view. All the world was ready to move- save for the heroes who had sparked it all. Dennis headed to the kitchen where they had gathered, Yuuto spectating one of Shun and Ruri’s made-up games and trying to pretend as if the world had not shifted irreparably around them.

Dennis’ heart shifted into a bright orange tabby, then leapt up onto the table to perch next to Shun’s eagle, keeping a careful distance so its twitching tail wouldn’t brush against the bird’s feathers. Ruri’s dove heart fluttered over to join them.

The game finished quickly, and Dennis spoke before they could offer him to play a round. “You know, they’re going to want you to be the leaders.”

Yuuto glanced up, a little startled. “We don’t have everyone yet. And besides…”

“Besides?” Dennis prompted, already knowing what Yuuto was after. It had startled him, too, the first time. He’d grown used to it quickly- he had to. His heart leapt off the table and wound figure eights around his ankles, unsettled by the proximity to the other hearts.

“It was… a dragon,” Yuuto said, “A dragon heart.”

“Someone with a dragon’s heart,” Shun corrected, immediate and sharp. His eagle gazed through Yuuto’s chest, his heart left inside for a rare occasion.

“There have been plenty of people with hearts like dragons,” Ruri jumped in, “but that doesn’t mean that they were all _the_ dragonheart. They say that Sakaki Yusho had a dragon’s heart too.”

Yuuto glanced over at Dennis; he returned it with a subtle nod.

“Besides,” Dennis added, “I’m pretty sure you took the _knight protector_ part too literally.” A humanoid heart, and a knight, no less. A rarity amongst rarities, like a warrior plucked straight from the pages of history so old it was practically a fable.

He glanced at Shun, then the eagle fluttering up to watch them from the rafters. He’d never seen his heart take a shape other than that of a bird of prey, a specific niche that spoke of a very certain level of either confidence or foolishness. Knowing Shun, there was very little between the two.

_Could he make the jump?_ If it was a question of ability and sheer stubborn will, Dennis was already sure that he could- but hearts were not things that worked in such straightforward ways. Wanting something did not mean one could have it. Even someone whose heart leapt at their command, like Dennis’, couldn’t manifest something with as much size and power as a dragon.

“Besides,” said Yuuto, “this isn’t really the kind of prophecy that you want to be the heroes of.”

The room went quiet, the silence shifting heavy between them- an obstruction on the table that had them all averting their eyes from the others. It was, Dennis thought, the first real uncomfortable silence he had experienced in that house.

“It can be a little morbid,” Dennis agreed, then abruptly remembering his part and added in a light tone, “but they say that the death of the champions didn’t really have anything to do with the last prophecy. And that one _was_ supposed to end that way.”

“Right, but-“

There was another knock at the door. Shun and Dennis exchanged an exasperated glance, daring each other to go and answer it in Yuuto or Ruri's firm-but-not-likely-to-make-anyone-seriously-angry way. Another knock, then a call- "It's just Akari with the paper!"

A mutual glance of relief, and the both of them stood to open the door.

"Sorry in advance," said Akari, holding out the paper. Shun took it, his expression curling into a frown. Dennis glanced down at it, saw immediately why. Spread across the front page was a detailed- though slightly fantastical- account of what had happened at the shrine town.

"Part of me wants to ask for an interview," Akari joked, "but the rest of me thinks all that I'd get is 'no comment.'"

Dennis stared down at the paper, eyes tracing the familiar lines of the prophecy transcribed in ink and flowing embellishments from a pen.

 

_From a nameless land, a red sun ascendant_

_Drawn by Maiden of Wind and Wing,_

_Held by Dragonheart, Heart turned Protector_

_From powers of a forgotten time,_

_Heralds of Revolution proud_

_Against the Destroyer united._

 

_Maiden of Wind, of Wing_

_Brought from the silence of dreams_

_To receive the blessings_

_Soaring atop Heart of White_

 

_Dragon created of heart_

_Stolen from the soil_

_Shorn from the skies_

_Solitary hunter fallen_

 

_Knight Protector drawn_

_From fate in the sand_

_On battlefields born_

_The remainder alone_

 

_Crushed beneath their fate,_

_Abandoned by their home,_

_And the Maiden will a prayer whisper,_

_For the ascension of the heart of stars._

 

_Prodigal sons returned; invaders from afar,_

_Pieces of heaven and earth united_

_On the day that dragons and doubles clash_

_Upon the gathered blessings henceforth destroyed-_

_The inherited such shall move the lines of fate-_

_And that gentle, blessed fragment of the sun_

_While the stars melt from the shattered sky,_

_Shall die by the moon._

 

"It's so different," Akari said, "from the ones that came before. There’s no elegance to it. Like it was desperate to come out, or something.”

“I don’t think prophecies work that way,” said Shun. Akari just grinned, an admission of ignorance- though by no fault of hers. Even the bulk of those that were honored enough to walk the halls of Academia knew little about the inner workings of how the Akabas read the lines of fate.

“Well, still,” said Akari, “if you’re going to do something, be careful about it, okay? I heard a few tax collectors got attacked while we were putting the story together. Even if you don’t do anything, be wary of Academia. I’m sure they’ll figure out who was involved eventually.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Dennis said, not without a trace of irony. Akari didn’t seem to pick up on it as she bid them an apologetic farewell. Though the article hadn’t mentioned any of them by name, it was clear that the pressure on them would only increase.

And yet still they continued on against it-

_But for how much longer?_ wondered Dennis, carrying in vegetables from the garden the next day. The moment he opened the door, he stopped in his tracks, frozen by the presence he could sense from inside. He stepped inside cautious, controlled, not quite meeting the eyes of the one lying in wait.

“How… domestic,” Yuuri drawled, pacing around the kitchen at a lazy pace, drawing the tips of his fingers slow over the wooden countertop.

Dennis’ grip on the basket tightened. The soon-to-be heroes were only in the fields, trying to salvage what they could of the crops suddenly afflicted by a strange and sudden rot; it wouldn’t be long before one of them returned.

Yuuri shrugged, then smiled. “Well, I can forgive it. You managed to get in with the leaders of the Rebellion. That deserves a bit of good news, doesn’t it?”

So it had been a test. Good. Dennis could deal with those, a second nature that slipped over his demeanor as easy as his performer’s mask. Dennis rolled his shoulders back, stepped up across the counter from Yuuri, settling the basket between them. “When are we making our move?”

“You,” Yuuri said, “aren’t making any. The Obelisk Force will be here tomorrow and burn this place to the ground. If the Rebellion dies with it, then your job is done. If it doesn’t, stay where you are. We’re being saved for when we can best crush the rebels’ spirits.”

His heart weighed at his chest, pulling at his lungs until he had to force himself to breathe normally. If Yuuri noticed, he said nothing. “And using the dragon to take care of them wouldn’t crush the rebellion?”

Yuuri hummed, mock-thoughtful. “According to the Professor, it’s too early to tell if they’re the heroes yet. But I think we both know they are. Aren’t they?”

_Then do what you want and go home_ , Dennis did not say. He had never been fond of games the way Yuuri had.

Yuuri took Dennis’ lack of response as all the answer that he needed. He continued, “Then I’ll go put a start to things.”

Dennis didn’t try and protest. He already had, back in the shrine town, and it was a useless endeavor trying to get between Yuuri and his desires. “I’ll make it quick,” Yuuri promised, and slipped out the door, brushing past Dennis without a second glance back.

_The moment of truth,_ Dennis thought, staring at the basket. There was a speck of rot on the far side of a cucumber that he hadn’t noticed before- Dennis snatched it up and threw it into the trash. A single speck of it rendered the whole thing inedible. _Showtime._

* * *

They were in the fields when Dennis caught the acrid smell of smoke on the breeze- not working, but lazing about on the far side of the hill, snacking and chatting idly. The taste of fresh berries traded for a jar of pickled vegetables was fresh on Dennis’ tongue and Ruri’s laughter rolled down the low hill to the open fields below. Their hearts slept on at their sides, Dennis’ with ginger ear pricked, waiting for the moment to end.

_“A picnic!”_ Ruri had said, distracting them from a day in the fields, away from the crops that had begun to wither, premature.

“Do you smell that?” Shun asked, getting quickly to his feet and racing to the top of the hill. Ruri followed close behind. Yuuto and Dennis exchanged a quick glance, carefully blank on Dennis’ end, then followed them up.

For a moment, the breath was stolen from Dennis’ lungs- he had forgotten the ways in which the elite of Academia tried to outdo themselves. Before them a meadow of flames, licking at the edges of green and brown as it jumped over patches of dirt.

"The river!" Shun yelled, sprinting away down the dirt road, leaping over the fallen plants still blazing. His heart flew fast into the skies behind him, doubtless searching for the source it wouldn’t find.

"Shun, there's nothing- damn," Yuuto said, then raced after him, pulling his just-woken heart into his body with white sparks chasing him well down into the fields.

Dennis and Ruri watched a moment more, as if frozen, before the wind blew hard and choked them with smoke.

"We need to go," said Dennis, holding out his hand.

"But Shun and Yuuto..."

"Can take care of themselves," Dennis finished, thinking that Yuuto, at least, would be able to keep Shun from doing anything even more rash than he'd already done.  Ruri nodded, then took his gloved hand and let him pull her away from the flames, back towards the road- but as they drew closer, Ruri drew from his grip, racing forwards, forwards-

"No!"

Alongside the road Ruri raced towards the burning house. But as she reached it she could only stand uselessly beside it, twitching, obviously fighting the instinct to race inside. Her hands were clutched tight into fists in the folds of her red dress. Dennis glanced around, searching for any sign of Academia- but there was none, so grabbed her bare wrists gently and pulled her back from the heat of the flames.

She allowed it, following Dennis back towards the safety of the road without another word. But still, the tension did not leave her. Together they watched home burn away, silent as smoke choked up the sky and drowned out the twilight long after the flames had consumed themselves whole.

Finally the smoke began to clear, and finally Ruri spoke, voice rough- "Where are Shun and Yuuto?"

"Coming down the road now," Dennis said, and Ruri glanced towards them, still soot-covered and damp. Ruri turned back towards the house, the burnt-out wood pillars still standing, the shadow of the frame of the house. She coughed, a hard clearing of her lungs, then stepped through the open space where the door had once been.

Dennis followed, stepping around the scorched remains of what had once been the chair outside the door. The ash shifted at his feet, and in the slide of them, he swore that he still could see the gentle orange of dying embers. Shun and Yuuto followed, turning in the empty space. Whatever they had been expecting to find, Dennis thought, he hoped they weren't too sorely disappointed.  

“There’s nothing left,” said Shun, and Yuuto flinched at the bluntness of it.

“But we still have each other,” said Ruri, standing amongst the burnt-out remains of the kitchen. The pillars swayed gently in the harsh wind, throwing up ash and the acrid smell of smoke. She turned towards them. “And… Maybe it’s time that we start what everyone’s been waiting for.”

“We could start over," Yuuto suggested, but his heart wasn't in it, a sheepdog standing gaze averted at the edge of the ruin.

“But wouldn’t that just end up being running away?” said Ruri, looking past them into the horizon. For a moment, her eyes seemed so far away. “Even if we go away from Xyz and try again, nothing’s going to change. Academia will still control us. And the cropland's all rotted in Synchro. We couldn't sustain ourselves there.

“And besides,” Ruri finished, smiling at them a little sad, “I love it here. Even if we rebuild... And even if we can make everything just the way that it was before all of this... I don't want to lose it all again."

"So let's do it," Shun said, the forgone conclusion. Shun met Ruri's eyes, then Yuuto's, then his- Dennis met them evenly, and wondered that he had been included so quickly, despite never once having claimed Xyz as his home.

Ruri nodded. "Then it's settled. We're going to take back our Heartland."

“Heartland,” Dennis repeated, the word feeling strange and ill-fitting on his tongue. His heart pulsed warm and hopeful in his chest. A chill ran down his spine, and his heart strained against his ribcage like a bird battering itself against the bars of its cage.

Ruri nodded, throwing her hands wide along the line of the horizon. The rays of the sun caught across her back, and Dennis fancied he could see her wings, spread wide around her. “That’s the name we’ll give this place when we win. The Rebels of Heart, fighting for their Heartland.”

(The Western Territories had long been controlled by Academia, and long had Rebellions been brewing, simmering softly until they boiled over abrupt and violent. Academia would make their move then, stealing the heart of the Rebellion’s head and shattering it, leaving them naught but the dust of what once was. That was as it had always been.)

"So it's settled, then," said Ruri, sharing a significant look- steeled, impossibly brave and so incredibly naïve- with each of them, before hesitating at Dennis. She added- "Unless you'd rather move on?"

"No," said Dennis, "I'll join you."

(And that as it would be again.)

"But it's not your home," said Shun, with the air of someone suddenly remembering something crucial. Dennis shook his head.

"No, but I've lost my home before," Dennis started, the words spilling out easier than he'd imagined them, "I know how it feels. And if I can help you, then I want to. I'm no hero, but..."

"Thank you," said Yuuto- the only one who could guess, who thought that he _knew_ \- and held out a hand. Without a moment's hesitation Dennis took it, shook it firmly. An agreement. A deal.

Yielding to the circumstances of their downfall before their rise had even begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "We sat and made a list  
> Of all the things that we had  
> Down the backs of table tops  
> Ticket stubs and your diaries
> 
> I read them all one day  
> When loneliness came and you were away  
> Oh they told me nothing new,  
> But I love to read the words you used"  
>  _\- Things We Lost in the Fire (Bastille)_


	6. Interlude C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Searching for Home.

It was not that Yuuto had ever wanted to become hero of a prophecy. His aspirations were great, though never quite so lofty-

He had lost everything, once, had been driven only by a story whispered over and over into his ear by a voice long-dead, pushing him onwards, onwards, onwards towards the light of the setting sun in the west-

And then he had stumbled upon a small farmhouse, a thing passed on through the generations with no history so imposing hovering over it like the guillotine.

Simple happiness would be enough, for him.

And, gathered around in the living room, history book in hand and quiet conversation filling the silence between the printed words, he thought, perhaps, that he had it.

“The first Emperor of current Academia,” he answered without fully registering who had asked, “Caesar. He was blessed by the god of the heavens and could see the threads of fate. His wife, Alexandria, was a Knight of Fusion and passed her abilities as a master of iron onto the Akaba line as well.”

“Oh? You know a lot about history,” Dennis said, glancing up from his borrowed volume, meeting Yuuto’s gaze from across the room.

"Well of course he does!" Ruri said, nudging Yuuto's shoulder playfully, "He's one of the great Phantom Knights!"

 _Anything but this_ , thought Yuuto, trying to grab her wrist- "Wait, Ruri, no-"

Ruri danced out of the way of Yuuto's grasping hands, her heart a sparrow flying circles around Yuuto's head, chirping all the while. She cleared her throat, put on a great stage whisper, all conspiracy and mirth. "You see, waaaay back in this country's history, during the days when the great goddesses rose up to defeat the evil god of rot and despair, there were four great Kingdoms.”

Dennis snapped his book shut and joined her in the story. "And one certain old kingdom was ruled wisely by twin King and High Priestess. It was one of four kingdoms that followed closely the lines of the territories today, and each had a special class of knight to defend them."

Ruri clapped her hands, delighted to have a partner in crime after ages of telling the story alone. "Exactly right! And this old kingdom was home to the greatest of all, the Phantom Knights! And these Phantom Knights weren't only the greatest warriors of the world, buuut-"

Ruri pointed at Shun, who rolled his eyes and replied dryly, "Magicians who courted the favor of the gods."

"Correct!" Ruri clapped her hands, and Dennis jumped in again.

"It was the Phantom Knights that gained the greatest power of them all- to commune with the dead that lingered on after death, and gain the knowledge of all ghosts of the realm.”

Yuuto shrunk down more as Dennis waved a hand towards him. All the room turned to look directly at him, and Yuuto smiled awkwardly, the expression a little plastered on in its embarrassment. He did wish that Ruri would stop telling this story to anyone who saw fit to stay and help a few days.

Ruri’s voice went low, dramatic. "But in exchange for this great power, all the Phantom Knights swore a grand oath to their patron gods. Never would they turn their great power against that of a human-"

"And never would they take more of the goddess' power than they had been given," Dennis finished, matching her energy.

Ruri spun, motioning wildly to the sky beyond the window and soil beneath the worn wood as she spoke- "Using the great powers of earth and stars that they had been bestowed, the Knights fought alongside the gods in the world's darkest hour. It was a fierce and brutal battle against the third god. A terrifying force known only as 'The Uniter'."

Dennis cleared his throat and continued- "They shattered the great god into four pieces and built the new kingdoms atop its corpse. The Knights returned to their peaceful lives until warriors were no longer necessary-“

"And the line continued on and on down the generations untiiiil-" Ruri pointed at Yuuto, who, at this point, had resorted to be pretending like he simply wasn't hearing Ruri and the rest of them any longer. "We got Yuuto!"

"That's incredible," said Dennis, watching Yuuto with a glimmer in her eyes. Yuuto ducked his head a little more, embarrassed by the attention. By the prying look in Dennis’ eye, Yuuto could tell he was wondering how many times Ruri had pulled out this particular little performance in the past. Rather than answer that, what Yuuto wanted to know is how Dennis had known exactly where in her story to jump in.

"It's really not," Yuuto muttered, "It's just a story my grandmother told me when I was little. We don't have any proof, or anything. So it's not really a big deal."

"Sorry," said Ruri, "but you know that's really cool, right? Even if it's just a possibility. Shun and I always wanted to be Knights when we were little, but. I mean, we hat no idea how it worked, back then."

Dennis nodded. “Compared to you, my heritage is just boring! Really, how many people can say that they’re related to the Knights?”

“Plenty, I’m sure,” Yuuto said, and pointedly returned to his book. Though it had been damaged, the name of their old Kingdom scorched away or covered over by liberal splashes of ink by Academia’s intervention, the story there was still intact- the story of the brave knights who had fought Death itself in order to save their home. Even once the god had shattered the pieces of its heart had slowly coalesced with the broken hearts of the fallen to create something terrifying- a horrid chimera of some undead life.

But still, he thought, as Dennis and Ruri’s chatter turned away from the questions of his heritage and back towards more immediate topics at one of Shun’s quips, he didn’t need the grand story that fate seemed to be so intent on pulling them towards.

If he could protect their smiles- protect the happiness of this makeshift family- then that would be enough. And if those eventually came to overlap, then, well…

There was a shimmer in the corner of his vision, a heat-haze that he only thought he saw. If a title was what it took to protect them, then perhaps he’d have to take that, too.

(But his _perhaps_ never anticipated a dragon and the flames, the rot and the power of a desperate heart. Only quieter days, and a weak gift that even all the bonds of supposed ancestry did little to bolster.)


	7. Act II, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Liber-tie 風の歌よ！  
> 夜に背き自由を掲げた君は踊る  
> 髪をなびかせて  
> Liber-tie, O song of the wind,  
> You who turned your back on the night danced and raised the call of freedom  
> Your hair all aflutter  
> \- 自由を謳う風/The Wind Extolling Freedom (kaoling)

The Rebellion had already begun, though not in such certain terms. Subtle defiance, quiet happenings in the twilight-dawn that left harsh words and deeper wounds in their wake. The people had long since had this set in their hearts, and were waiting only for their heroes, holding the blessings in their hands.

The signs were clear, this time. Now that Dennis knew what to look for.

First came the celebrations. Drink and feast flowed freely as the rebels gathered up their house and homes into what they could carry in their wagons, on their backs. Everyone had a folk song, a march on their lips and the prophecy rang out in the midday light like a battle cry-

Their spirit of Rebellion was an enviable thing, so full of life and hope and all the things that Dennis had forgotten in the time since the last rebellion. And the moment they put a name to it, Dennis thought, watching as they raised the banner of their rebellion, red flag painted black with the symbol that Shun had drawn what seemed so long ago, they were damned.

* * *

Academia spared nothing.

The towns before them burned as the fields crumbled into brown, tainted with the beginnings of an all-consuming rot. Camp became a patchwork of refugees and aspiring rebels with no lines drawn between the two in the chaos. Those who had come waving the flag of Rebellion in hopes of glamour and glory were soon turning away, running home to the nothing that remained.  _ Unsurprising, _ thought Dennis-  _ those with the flashiest of hearts on the battlefield were often the first to fall. _

Dennis only heard the summons once they had been made-  _ If you want to fight _ , called the Maiden _ , go to the far end of the camp. _ He wandered over, pushing his way through the sizable crowd to the front. It was more people than he had expected from the sad little town- a few dozen, it seemed. Whether they were all able to fight, or not, Dennis thought, looking them over, unimpressed, was another matter entirely. Hearts of various shapes and sizes stood plastered battered, protectively next to their owner’s sides. It seemed they wouldn’t be useless, at the very least.

Someone had found Ruri a few boxes to stand on, and she swayed a little unsteadily at the top, her voice trembling along with her balance. "Thank you for coming. My name is Kurosaki Ruri, and I declare myself the Maiden of Wind and Wing, leader of the Rebels of Heart!"

The crowd cheered, despite her wavering, and she continued, "We were once a Kingdom of peace. But Academia came and destroyed that. Our ancestors lived fairly and well. Academia has us struggling under their cruel and unjust rule! Our true rulers do not live in Academia, and it is time we prove that again! Please, come up and take a symbol of our Resistance. For our Heartland!"

It wasn't inspiring- not really. But it was honest, Dennis thought, and from the way that the crowd applauded her as she climbed careful down from her dangerous tower of crates, that was all that had mattered.

Ruri tore her red dress at the seams and cut up the remains-bandanas for her brother and Yuuto, arm and headbands to the rest of their rapidly swelling ranks. Dennis escorted her around the camp, fabric scraps bundled up in his arms.

“For Heartland,” said a boy as Dennis handed him an armband. The boy’s heart was a rapier tucked in his belt, catching the gleam of the midday sun. Dennis recognized him vaguely as one of the Arclights. He had the sense not to ask why he was alone. It was a feat enough that his heart hadn’t turned to stone with the heartbreak. No need to add to the wound.

“For Heartland,” Dennis replied. His own tabby cat wound uncertainly around his ankles.

The rest of the distribution went smoothly, though they found that there were more fighters in the camp than fabric scraps than Ruri’s dress could provide.

“Does… Anyone have anything extra we could use?” Ruri ventured, with the rare trace of hesitance left in her voice that told Dennis that she was expecting only negative answers. The crowd shuffled, murmured quietly amongst themselves. These people were left with nothing but ruins behind them and scraps in their hands. “Anything will do,” Ruri amended.

“Here,” said an older woman, stepping forward as she unwound a long scarf from her neck, letting it pool in Ruri’s hands. The fabric shimmered gently under the noon sun, and Ruri immediately tried to shove it back into the woman’s hands.

“This is silk, I can’t possibly-“

The woman shook her head slowly. A child peered around from behind the woman’s leg, and she pat his hair gently. “I was keeping it as a memento of this one’s father. But… You remind me of him, you know. He would be proud to have a piece of him fighting for our future.”

“Thank you,” Ruri said, letting the woman curl her fingers around the soft sheen of the fabric.

There were only a few more hopeful fighters left, and Ruri made quick work of the scarf and the final few scraps in Dennis’ hands. After the last man had dispersed, Ruri let out a long breath, the final bit of her nerves vanishing.

“What about Dennis?” Shun asked, and Ruri blinked, looked him over. Dennis glanced himself over- in the middle of everything, he hadn’t thought to take something.

“Give it back,” Ruri said to Shun, holding out an expectant hand. 

“You just  _ gave _ it to me,” Shun grumbled, but untied the bandana from around his neck and dropped it into Ruri’s waiting hands. Ruri considered it a moment, then went to work tearing at it- just a thin strip from the edges, but cut in a way that curved neatly into one long piece of fabric. Ruri curled it in her palm, nodded, then handed the bandana back to Shun. 

“Close your eyes,” Ruri said, and Dennis did so obediently. He felt the collar of his shirt being lifted upwards at Ruri fit something beneath it, then smoothed back down as she fiddled with something at his front. “And, done!”

Dennis opened his eyes, glanced down. A thin red ribbon had been tied there in a simple bow knot that hung limply beneath his collar. Ruri said, “I wish we had enough for a tie or something proper, but…”

“This is good,” Dennis said, “Thank you.”

He smiled; Ruri returned it. For that moment, he let himself dwell on the present instead of the day that he’d inevitably abandon it. But there was little time to revel in it; their silence was quickly broken by a distant shout of greeting.

“Miss Ruri!” someone yelled, and Ruri turned towards it. Her heart chirped pleasant recognition before the girl herself did.

“Sayaka?” The seamstress’ apprentice ran up to them, breathing hard but with a small smile on her face.  _ Meet once and it’s a passing of fate. Meet twice, and both goddesses have dipped a hand into your lives. Meet thrice, and your threads of fate have been intertwined _ . Dennis knew what she would say before she said it-

“I decided. I’m going to repay you.”

“You’re not a soldier,” Ruri replied, but Sayaka only straightened her back. The determination about her was unshakable. 

“But neither are you,” she said, though she was not unkind. “I can do something. I promise. Even if it’s just sewing or cooking. I can also learn just about anything, I pick up skills very quickly…”

She glanced at Dennis, as if hoping that he will vouch for her. He looked away. He had seen how this story played out years ago. The Rebels would need to be defeated. Utilizing the prophecy was the easiest way; it minimized the casualties on both sides. He had no interest in someone innocent choosing to throw herself into the flames.

"Then," said Ruri, "how about my assistant?"

"Assistant?" Sayaka said, more a squeak than a proper question. Dennis couldn't tell if it was supposed to be pleasantly surprised or a bit disappointed. His heart watched with half-narrowed eyes, raising a paw to brush at its head.

Ruri nodded. "You'll be half my bodyguard, and half my assistant, helping me run things in the camp. Does that sound good?"

"I'm not very strong..." A sudden reversal of that utter confidence, her true face revealed.

Still, Ruri smiled. "It's fine. 

“But I will be. I will be as strong as you,” Sayaka said. Dennis pretended not to hear. 

“Here,” said Ruri, thinking a moment, “Why don’t you go to the class that our old instructor is going to offer soon? It might help you. Even if you have no skill, I’m sure Dennis could teach you. He’s very good.”

“What, me?” Dennis couldn’t help the startled edge that crept into his voice. “No, not at all. I’ve just had some training.”

“He beat my brother,” Ruri stage whispered to Sayaka, though it did nothing to keep Dennis from hearing. Or Shun, if his scoff at the reminder was any indication. In her normal voice she continued- “But really. I’m sure he’ll take you, right?”

“I’ll go with you,” said Shun, “I need the practice.”

Left with Ruri’s plan and Sayaka’s hopeful look, he had no choice but to accept. He mainly watched the lesson as it progressed, trying to correct Sayaka gently where he could, to offer encouragement where she deserved it- but, as far as he could tell, she was a typical beginner. No outstanding talent, but not hopelessly incompetent, either- just a beginner, a little nervous and with a terrible tendency to second-guess herself.

Off to the side of their practice Shun to the side, his heart bounding fast from eagle to hawk to owl and back as it cut through the skies around its owner, skimming the tops of houses but never quite vanishing out of sight. Constantly moving, shifting, glowing soft at the edges as if trying to force a transformation. It was an impressive range. Dennis took note. Then, seizing the idea-

“What about your heart?” Dennis asked, and Sayaka looks at him, startled. She broke form, and Dennis beckoned her over. Clumsily she sheathed the practice sword and followed. 

“Isn’t it dangerous for beginners to try and fight with that?” she asked, and Dennis nodded. 

“Sure. But you don’t need to do things like make it attack. A bird swooping down at your opponent’s face or a dog knocking over a metal can behind them is a good way to distract your opponent long enough to get a blow in or run away,” he explained, and Sayaka nodded along. He could practically see her taking notes from the way her eyes went serious and a little distant behind her glasses. 

“And it hurts a hell of a lot less,” Dennis said, “if your heart’s not in your chest when someone tries to stab you through it.”

“I…” Sayaka replied, startling back to the situation. “I… Right, that makes sense. Here, let me…” 

Sayaka took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes just a little too tight. After a few moments, her expression turned pained. Bright red dust glittered against her chest, curling delicate as faerie vine around the lines of her ribs, and his heart’s hackles raised at the sight. 

“Don’t push it,” Dennis warned. It came out a little sharper than he meant it to, and Sayaka stopped immediately, the red of her veins retreating back below her skin.

She sent him a look, guilty and embarrassed all at once before glancing away. "I'll be able to do it."

Dennis thought a moment, then- "I think you will.”

Whether he should have been encouraging her or not, Dennis continued- "You might be visualizing too hard. Are you projecting your heart? Or what you think it should look like? Or what you think others should think it should look like?"

Sayaka nodded, though said nothing in reply. Her next attempt produced nothing but bloody red sparks, dripping fast to the ground, and she frowned, those lines back between her eyes. But that fire was about her again. Like she would try as many times as she had to. Like the next time, she would succeed.

Over by the main area, the Arclight boy called the practice to an end, and Dennis waved her away to join them. He watched her back as she went, standing hesitant by Shun’s side one moment, a little less the next. She had courage, he’d give her that- but she’d likely never see a battlefield.

It was better, that way.

* * *

Trying to move camp the next morning was nothing short of supremely difficult, people trying to pack too many things on family wagons and trying to commandeer horses with less friendly inquiries and more frantic demands- people, Dennis thought, grew desperate too quickly at the idea of having to carry everything they owned on their backs. He’d just come back from settling one such dispute, dutifully reporting the event to Sayaka, who scribbled it down on a long piece of parchment, when Shun returned, looking sour.

“I lost my gloves,” Shun said, with that particular low twinge to his voice that implied that said gloves had not been lost and more  _ stolen _ , but that someone- likely Yuuto- had convinced him not to go causing a scene about it. Not when their position was still so new and relatively fragile. 

Good sense, Dennis thought, then tuned back into the conversation, where Ruri and Shun seemed to be talking themselves into circles. 

“Wait,” Ruri said, holding out a hand to keep Shun from speaking, and cast Dennis a significant glance. Dennis held out his right hand, understanding Ruri’s look without a word, then pulled his right glove off it and tossed it at Shun, who stared down at it unimpressed.

“What am I supposed to do with just one glove?” Shun muttered, and Dennis shrugged.

“You’re smart, you’ll figure it out.”

Ruri sent him a look a little harder, a little chiding, and her heart chirped loudly where it was perched atop her head, a little sparrow’s song. She’d obviously intended he give Shun both, but that was something he’d never do. He shrugged at her in response, and Ruri blinked long, equivalent of a shrug and a sigh.

“Just go with it for now,” Ruri said, and Shun stuffed the glove into his pocket. Dennis resisted the urge to tell him to at least wear it. “We need to head over to the next town. Which one did you say was next?”

“Spade Town,” Dennis replied, “the one over to the North. We should be able to get supplies there.”

“Huh. You know, I had a feeling that I should go there. Anyone else? If it’s three, then that means that fate’s on our side,” Ruri said. Shun and Yuuto both looked north, squinting to try and spot the outline of the large town between the hills ahead.

“Yeah,” they said in unison, and Ruri giggled.

“Then, it’s  _ definitely _ for sure. If we’re ready, let’s head out,” Ruri said, then directed towards Sayaka- “Help me make a last run?”

Sayaka nodded, and then they were off, towards the north- Spade Town, then further, towards Academia and the sea. Despite the earlier conflicts, the camp sparked with hearts that flew and rode alongside them, with laughter and chatter and a thousand escapes from the reality of homes destroyed. Above them their flag of Rebellion waved, caught by the western wind. Before them, quiet, Ruri whispered a Maiden’s prayer to the place where the earth and heavens met, and Dennis began to count down the days.

* * *

Academia set a trap for them. No one told him that it was a trap, but Dennis could tell nonetheless. The Territories were warm places, where the sun brushed gently over bare skin and the people spoke with sweetness in their voice. The streets that greeted the fledgling rebels were narrow and cold, the grey stone of the building like the dreary walls of Castle Academia.

Academia’s soldiers were fiercer than he remembered. They always were.

Dennis shuffled through the burning streets of Spade, his heart a tabby cat slinking along beside him. The sounds of battle carried as the wind blew smoke low towards him, a little distant- Academia had divided them neatly into two, and his side had been the smaller. 

He had expected to be attacked today- though by which side, he still had his doubts. What he hadn’t expected was for a hound to slam into his back, knocking him hard to the ground. He reached out to break his fall on instinct, the skin of his right palm caught on the ground and tore. Dennis grimaced as he rolled over, climbing fast to his feet. He drew his sword on instinct and grimaced as it pulled at his wounded palm.

He had two options, and neither of them were particularly pleasant. Dennis took a step towards the Obelisk Force member, then darted fast to the side. The hound was after him immediately. Dennis’ own heart leapt onto its back, claws flashing and leaving deep gouges as the hound tried to shake it off.

The soldier faltered a moment, clutching at his chest, and Dennis seized the opportunity, coming in for a fast slash- the Obelisk Force member lifted his head and raised his sword at the last possible moment to parry. The hilt of his sword was slick with traces of sweat and blood, and all Dennis’ momentum was thrown against him. The sword slipped from his hand. With a quick shift of his weight, Dennis stumbled backwards, his back hitting a brick wall. The hound, meanwhile, threw his tabby from its back.

_ ‘One option down,’ _ Dennis thought with a humorless chuckle. He drew himself up to his full height. He hadn’t wanted to risk himself this early, but in the end, he thought, this was the better option. The soldier advanced. Dennis started to speak, but his words were drowned out by a screech from above. The falcon swooped down, was on the soldier in an instant, tearing talons into his shoulder and tearing at his helmet.

The soldier batted at the falcon, then froze- the falcon flew up into the sky, unharmed. The soldier coughed, staggered forwards on weak legs as he was pushed off the blade protruding from his stomach.

“You saved me,” Dennis said, and Shun gave him a once-over before nodding.

Beside them, the soldier fell, shuddered, then went still. Shun’s heart landed on his outstretched arm, eyes latched firmly onto the body beside them. Dennis’ own stayed away, keeping close behind his heels.

“Why?” he asked, then immediately cursed himself for the slip. He looked away, feigned embarrassment. Something about these people, he thought, made him too honest for his own good.

He quirked an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Dennis scrambled for the first thing that sounded reasonable, found it right before his eyes. "I thought you were challenging me in practice this morning."

Shun huffed, a little  _ I expected better from someone who beat me _ . "That was practice. This is the real thing. Now come on. We’ve almost finished them off.”

Shun turned and started back down the street, towards the sound of the fighting that Dennis had no desire to return to. But, called out like this, he had no choice. With palm starting to smart he picked up his sword, transferring it to the other immediately. By the time that they returned to the street where the bulk of the fighting had taken place, it had all but ended. Shun raced forth to join the rest of the rebels in overwhelming the last few Obelisk Force. Dennis lurked around by the edges and watched- there were, Dennis observed, remarkably few casualties on the rebel side. But what they had taken on were merely a small patrol of Obelisk Force members, and numbers could overwhelm even the most elite of Academia’s soldiers, given the right situation.

In a matter of minutes the fight was over, the streets quiet again, and Dennis stepped forward to give the impression he had been making himself useful. It was a more promising start than he expected. Likely it was Yuuri that had sent them as a test- he was vaguely aware of the dragonheart’s presence somewhere in the otherwise quiet town, residents shuttered behind closed doors in fear of the battle. 

“We’ll spend the rest of the day here to rest,” Ruri announced to the assembling rebels, and there were noises of agreement ranging from tired mutters to excited yells, people still chasing the adrenaline of their first real battle. To them, she added quietly, “I want to explore the town and look for somewhere to buy more medical supplies.”

“I get the feeling,” Dennis added, and Ruri turned to him fast in surprise, “that there’s a blessing hidden here.”

“A blessing, huh?” Ruri said, more to herself than anyone. “Okay. Sayaka and Michael can handle the camp once we help things get settled down. Let’s meet back here in two hours.”

In reality it took a little more than two hours to try and settle people into inns, tents, homes. When the met the sun was beginning to sink low into the sky, and the four set out at random, scanning the monotonous scenery for anything that could help them. At the center of the town was a tower, a grand thing set like a focal point, a beacon like a lighthouse to the fields surrounding it. The doors were unassuming things, set into the brick frame and marked with dull handles, rusted with the passage of time. 

“This is it,” Dennis said, and Ruri glanced at him, then nodded. Dennis resisted the urge to touch his lips- he hadn’t meant to say the words. But it was true- this had always been his destination. The one blessing known to Academia- the first to be taken, according to the Professor, and where the rebels would likely have made their start.

The doors only opened in the presence of the power of one of the gods- a vessel to their very existence. Dennis said as much, and the three of them glanced between each other, gazes eventually settling on Ruri.

"Will they just... open?" Ruri asked, and Shun shrugged and stepped forwards, the first of them to take action.

"Only one way to find out." Shun laid a hand on one of the handles and pushed it open with what looked to be little resistance. Soundlessly they glided open, leaving the gathered four to glance into the interior.

Though dust lingered in the air, dancing in the long beams of the sun through the high windows, the interior seemed clean enough. Books lined the high shelves of the circular room, gathered in stacks on the tables dappling the space between the shelves. 

"Amazing," Ruri breathed, voice muffled behind her sleeve pressed to her mouth.

"Where do we go?" Yuuto asked, glancing around the interior as they walked, shoes echoing loud in the vaulted ceiling of the chamber. Dennis read the titles of the books left out on the tables as they passed- old tales and chronicles of the gods and the kings and warriors who had fought alongside them. Some of them he recognized, the more interesting were the ones he did not. Records of prophecy, charts that supposedly recorded the lines of fate that crossed through the stars- it was a collection that would have been right at home in the vast libraries of Academia, Dennis thought.

"There are stairs," Dennis said, pointing towards the far end of the open hall, "should we try?"

The stairs went on forever, or so it seemed to them as they climbed. The staircase spiraled up the outside edge of the tower, progressing dangerously high up the walls before giving way to the division between one room and the one directly above.

"Who would build a staircase like this?" Dennis heard Ruri mutter under her breath, sounding a little affronted by either the aesthetics or the danger of it. Ruri huffed a little, and Dennis guessed both.

The room that the stairs ended their slow spiral at was small and entirely empty- at one point, it seemed to have been a sort of storage space, or perhaps a gathering area away from the main library. But it was completely empty now, save the thick shadows at the far end of the walls. The far wall had a large indent, the hint of a hopefully final staircase at its side.

The four headed towards it, almost across the room when Yuuto called them to a halt with a low-  _ wait _ . They slowed to a halt, Shun raising an eyebrow. Yuuto pointed to the cluster of shadows in response. Before, Dennis had thought them a trick of the light coming in through the high windows, just a corner cast heavy into the dark- but in the still room, those shadows were moving, pulling themselves slow from the mass and into strange, misshapen creatures. The figures slunk and crawled broken-limbed across the wide stones. Dennis could catch a flash of white when they shifted just the right way, glimmers of curved bones puncturing the roiling forms.

“What are those?” asked Ruri, her voice high with horror. The strange creatures had no distinguishable appendages, nor any real  _ shape _ , for that matter-though there were hints of bones or something resembling some sort of exoskeleton on most of the creatures, it shifted uselessly within the black, slime-like substance.

The creatures froze. The four followed suit- and then, slowly, the strange creatures began to ooze their way over towards them. Yuuto called back his heart, the dog’s low growl cut off halfway to a howl. 

"Get ready," Dennis breathed, and the creatures continued their advance, the three of them dragging themselves along, leaving a trail of black in their wake. The rebels ended up pressed back to back, swords drawn and ready. One leapt out at them, and Dennis slashed, a quick backhand that was all instinct and no technique. There was a cracking noise, a hiss that may or may not have been the creature as it fell back, leaving splatters of black ooze across the floor. He shouted back a warning- "They move fast!"

"I don't think we can kill them!" Ruri yelled, parrying off another one who had attacked her with enough force to push her back to back with Dennis. Her weight was solid against his for a moment before she regained her balance.

"Are they even really alive?" Shun asked, his heart diving down at one, talons scraping at a hint of exposed bone. Though it tried to pry it out, the ooze only rose up around it and threatened to crash over the falcon's head. It released its talons, flying off with a cry, deprived of its prey but unharmed.

"Reckless-" Ruri began to chide, but was cut off immediately as another one began to slink towards her. Yuuto broke their already indented form, leaping out in front of Ruri to intercept the creature.

“The stairs! Go!” yelled Yuuto. The  _ we'll hold them off  _ was left unspoken, but Ruri glanced back, nodded. She was up the stairs without a second’s delay, and Dennis raced after her back. Ruri took them two at a time, sheathing her sword as she leap up the steps, and Dennis followed a few paces behind. The staircase was short, and they were up it in a moment, stumbling into the brightly-lit room beyond-

The light consumed them.

Dennis screwed his eyes shut against the radiance, but could not move his arms to shield his eyes. Scorching heat battered him, and through his eyelids the world went dizzying white. His eyes began to burn, as if staring straight into the golden sun, then-

Dark.

A peaceful dark, gentle as a shadow hovering over his face. He could taste the blue of the sky, all freedom and wisps of fluffy cloud, feel the soft touch of the earth beneath his bare feet, then-

Words- 

_ please- _

_ if I could use this, then- _

_ it's a part of me, even though It's not here- _

_ I have to, for- _

_ so please- _

Silence. The shadow receded alongside the light, and Dennis squinted cautiously, taking in the dim interior for any signs of danger before blinking away the spots in his vision. The top of the tower was a single, small room that smelled strongly of must, hints of rot from the cages stacked upon one another throughout the room. In each cage were perches, tiny bowls on the floor where there had been once hints of seed. Moss grew in the corners of the room, in the edges between the cages and the wall, thriving despite the strange location.

"Wow," Ruri breathed, head pushed up against the bars of the window- a triangle cutout with space just enough for a small animal to get between without trouble. Dennis spared one last glance at the empty room before joining her, peering over her head into the distance. The day was cloudless, only hints of white wisps on the horizon, and at this height, it was as if they could see forever.

Beyond the flat plains of the place not-yet-Heartland, and beyond the marshes of Southern Fusion- to the Northeast, Dennis fancied that he could see the pillars of prophecy hanging dark and imposing in the sky behind Academia keep. After a moment, Dennis followed Ruri's gaze westward, to the distant shape of the seaside capital, nothing but a blob of a skyline against the blue expanse of the ocean.

Ruri said, sounding a little dazed, "I feel like I could fly all the way out there, now." After a moment she shook herself back to the present, and turned back towards the center of the room. There was a small box sitting on a table next to a set of cases, a small thing of polished wood and gilded edges. It looked entirely pristine and out of place in the dilapidated room. The two approached it carefully, watching the silver circle atop it as it glinted in the sun. The bracelet was set like a key in the lid of the box. It looked familiar, the wings splayed out around a softly gleaming gem, but Dennis couldn’t quite place it.

“Is this part of the blessing?”

Ruri picked up the bracelet with hands faintly trembling. The lid popped open with a soft click, splitting along the gold-gilded stripe down its center. She said, a little breathless, “I think so.”

“What did you see?” Dennis asked, the taste of ozone still on his tongue- it was unlike her to be shaken so easily. 

Ruri bit her lip, traced the silver lines of the winged bracelet. “I… Well, I…” She shook her head. “I didn’t see anything. Just the light.” 

The same as Dennis. But perhaps she hadn't had time to close her eyes. He thought to press, but if Ruri had seen anything else in that overwhelming brightness, it was clear from the way that she turned her head away, focused only on the lines of the bracelet, that she wouldn't speak another word of it, not yet.

Instead, Dennis opened the lid experimentally- surely that single bracelet couldn't have been all, not when it had been set so strangely into the box already- but there was nothing in the soft red lining of the interior.  _ Could he have been here before us? _ But no, thought Dennis, that didn’t make any sense. If this was the Professor’s way of testing the rebels, then it stood to reason that no one could have entered the tower before them. Certainly the seal that had been placed upon the tower would have allowed Yuuri entry, but…

Ruri slipped the bracelet on her wrist. Dennis stared down at that yellow gem and thought of its purpose. An artifact to keep the seal? A physical mark of a being intangible, an affirmation of the powers of a goddess?

"We need to make sure that Yuuto and Shun are all right," said Ruri abruptly, and rushed towards the door. Shaken from his thoughts, Dennis spared one last look at the empty room then followed Ruri down, taking the steps one by one. When he arrived at the base, Ruri was already looking Yuuto and Shun over, worry and swift relief evident in the softness of her touches. Leaning down, she pat the head of Yuuto’s heart, the tiniest of sighs escaping her.

"It was strange," Yuuto said, "there was a flash of light, and then those creatures vanished. Like they'd never been there to begin with."

"We thought you did something," said Shun, but Ruri shook her head. 

"We saw the same flash," Dennis said, explaining for Ruri, "I think it was part of the blessing."

Yuuto and Shun brightened up noticeably at that, the weariness of the day suddenly alleviated. Shun asked, concern reversed from just a moment ago, "You're okay? Nothing bad happened?"

"I'm fine. Nothing really happened at all. It doesn't feel like there was much of a change. I thought maybe it would be like what we thought when we were kids, and I’d suddenly start seeing ghosts over everyone’s shoulders or something. I guess I was being kind of silly, huh? But we did find this," Ruri said, showing off the bracelet. 

“See?” said Shun, “There’s your proof.”

Ruri fiddled with the bracelet. “I really don’t feel any different.”

“Where in the prophecy does it say you have to?” Shun replied, then ruffled her hair. “Acting all dignified like some Maiden wouldn't suit you anyways."

“Hey!” Ruri said, batting away his hand, " I  _ do _ act dignified!"

“Yeah, there we go,” said Shun, and the tense atmosphere that had built up around them dissolved along with Dennis’ heart, silver sparks caught in the twilight. Yet he couldn’t shake off his uneasiness, a mounting thing that crawled up his chest with chilled tendrils, sending his heart scurrying a mouse to sit on his shoulder. There was something he had not been told.

All that remained was to see if it was anything of importance.


	8. Interlude D

This was how Kurosaki Ruri died- pierced through the heart on a dead man's blade, eyes blown wide in horror and gasping for breath that would no longer come. Her heart fluttered a dove at her side a moment before falling fast to the ground and splattering there, drowned in its own blood.

Ruri woke with a heaving gasp, clutching tight at the single sheet and trying to blink away the murky dark before she realized it for what it was- just the shadows of the thick canvas tent and nothing more.

(Not the stars flashing behind her vision as it all faded to black, not the black of that dead man's eyes, not-)

Ruri heaved in another breath, pulling herself up into a sitting position and letting the beat of her heart beneath her palm soothe her. The bracelet was cool across her wrist, and she tried to focus only on the sensation. As long as she could feel, she was alive. As long as she could remember her supposed death in that dreamy haze, she was alive.

Sayaka stirred at her side, calling her name quiet and tired, and Ruri cursed herself for having woken her up. She couldn’t say a word around the lump in her throat, and Sayaka roused herself quickly, turned to Ruri with hands hovering, not sure if she should reach out or not. “Ruri? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

"I'm- I'm sorry, this is so dumb, I just-" Ruri took a few breaths, trying and failing not to gasp a little. "I just... I had a dream that I died."

Sayaka shuffled over to her side, hands still hovering a little awkwardly, unsure what kind of comfort she was allowed to give. "That's not dumb at all! That’s one of the scariest things that you can dream about!”

It was nice, Ruri thought, to hear those words. Her breathing evened out, her heart stopped pecking away in her chest, determined to make its beating presence known in the cage of her ribs. “Thanks,” Ruri said, “it’s just… Ever since I can remember, I’ve been having these dreams. Sometimes I think they’re sent right from the goddesses themselves. So I…”

“Take them too seriously?” Sayaka finished, and Ruri nodded. 

“So I’m sorry if I keep waking you up. I’ll try not to.” Sayaka shook her head, finally lowered her hands to her sides.

“It’s okay. If you ever need to tell me, it’s okay if you wake me up. If it wasn’t for you,” Sayaka said, and met Ruri’s eyes forwardly, without even her glasses to mask them, “I wouldn’t be alive. That’s something I can only hope I can repay you for, one day.”

“Ah,” Ruri said, suddenly flustered, “It’s not something I want you to repay me for! I just thought that if I could save someone, then… It wouldn’t matter so much, if I got hurt.”

“But still,” Sayaka insisted, and Ruri could sense that they would talk each other in circles of apologies and insistence on favors if she let the conversation go on any longer. Sayaka must have sensed it too, because she stopped abruptly. She suggested, quietly, “Maybe we should both go back to sleep for a while. There’s nothing like good dreams to forget about the bad, right?”

Ruri nodded, settled back against her pillow. “Good night, Sayaka.”

“Good night, Ruri.”

Though Ruri doubted that she would be able to sleep after that, the image of her own body falling before her eyes, blood pooling from her broken heart a constant haunting- sleep claimed her soft and sweet, and upon waking her dreams were again shattered images and hazy recollections that slipped from her with every moment her consciousness returned. As she blinked awake, it was only to the sense of motion, clouds hanging so low in the sky she thought that she could reach her fingers up against the wind and touch them, and a storm rolling in wild from the west.


	9. Act III, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bluebird, Bluebird- So close yet so far.

The early morning streets of Spade Town were quiet, citizens still holed up in their homes, fearful of another assault by Academia. Fearful that they would too incur the Obelisk Force’s wrath for sheltering the rebels in their streets, businesses, homes. It wasn’t irrational of them, Dennis thought, slipping into an alley, past a house whose windows had been nailed shut.

“That wasn’t a good conclusion,” Yuuri said. He stepped out from behind and overturned cart, abandoned with broken spokes where there had once been wheels. Dennis stopped and watched him approach, heart dragging nails through the bottom of his chest as he waited.

“You know what happens if you continue to let them succeed like this,” Yuuri warned, in a voice that was very flat, unlike him. Quoting, then. Likely the Professor.

Dennis nodded.

“It’s why we _needed_ ,” Yuuri said, overemphasizing with a particular curl of his lip, “to stop Sakaki. Or so I was told.”

"And that's why you need to he-" Yuuri stopped abruptly, glancing away. There was an irritation about him now, and he tapped at a pile of wood stacked beside the house. It wavered, but did not fall.

"Need to..?" Dennis pushed, deciding to try his luck.

"Nothing," said Yuuri, turning the brunt of that pinprick irritation at Dennis, then. "It's not anything that you should know. She passed the test, and now you can't allow that girl to take another blessing. You know how that thread ends. Just lead them to Fusion. We'll take care of the rest."

Dennis nodded again. He was well aware of how a successful rebellion would end- had been, for too many years, now.

"Don't make another mistake," Yuuri warned, then turned down the alley without so much as a goodbye. Dennis turned back towards the main camp, on the other side of the sleepy town. He had already taken too long to retrieve water. Any longer and there would be questions he'd have to answer, and questions were the first step towards suspicion.

He knew. He knew. The reminder was hardly necessary.

He just hated, sometimes, how optimistic the rebels made him feel.

* * *

As if by some twist in the threads of fate, Ruri was the first person he met as he hauled his bucket of water back to camp. She stood with Yuuto at her side, speaking solemn-faced with the Arclight boy and a girl with a bright red-orange shock of hair and gloves to match. Ruri frowned, touching a hand to her chin in thought. Yuuto mirrored the expression more subtly, his heart’s head cocking to the side with ear perked.

“No,” said Ruri, “you’re right. I’m glad you told me about this. I think we can start taking steps to fix it soon, but… for now, why don’t you keep doing what you have been? We’ll discuss it and get back to you soon.”

The girl smiled, wide and bold. “See?” she said to the Arclight, “What’d I tell you? ‘Course the Maiden knows what she’s talking about. Thanks, Ruri.”

“It’s no problem. It’s just to make us stronger!” Ruri replied, waving to the two as they headed back towards the heart of camp. They returned cheery waves of their own. The moment their backs turned, Ruri’s expression fell marginally. She crossed her arms, glanced down at them as if she’d find the answers to her worries in the fold of them. Still Yuuto stared into the middle distance, contemplating something. Ruri turned to him. “Oh, come on! Don’t look so down about it.” She unfolded her arms, pulled the bracelet from her wrist.

“A good luck charm,” said Ruri, and pressed the bracelet into Yuuto’s palm. “It doesn’t have any magic on its own, so there’s no reason I have to keep it.”

It was a lie, of course- even Dennis could sense the faint hints of familiar presence radiating out from it. A mark of the blessing. A resonance. Something, though he couldn’t put quite the right name to it.

When it looked like Yuuto was to protest, Ruri continued, “Besides. It’s like a physical mark of our trust in each other. And that’s never a bad thing, right?”

Yuuto shook his head, but he smiled as he slipped the bracelet on his wrist. “I can’t argue with that.”

“Good,” Ruri said, “because if you didn’t take it, then I was just going to skip you and give it right to Dennis.”

Ah, so he had been noticed. Some days the rebels were as alert as Academia’s finest, only to drop their guard entirely in the next moment, caught up in their own peaceful world. He never was quite sure which one it was.

“You have a lot of friends that joined,” he said, setting down his bucket and stepping up to join them properly.

“No,” replied Ruri, “most of them I only met after. Or well, only really became friends with after. Michael’s the only exception.”

“Still,” he said, “they look up to you. That’s good. Everyone looked up to Yusho, back when…”

Ruri tilted her head a bit, and _ah_ , Dennis realized- he hadn’t meant to start that story. He shook his head. “It’s good.”

Yuuto’s heart padded up to him, then plopped down with a small huff. When he looked over, Yuuto was watching him, contemplative again. Yuuto asked, “Do you mind if I steal Dennis for a second? I thought of something he might be able to help with.”

“Oh, you mean-” Yuuto cut Ruri off with a sharp nod. “Okay. I’ll take the water back over by the cooks. Come up with something good!”

Ruri leaned down to grab the handle, hoisting it with an _oof_ before starting off towards the other side of camp, down by the main streets.

“Come on,” Yuuto said, waving Dennis towards a different set of streets, then pulling a bewildered Sayaka who happened to meet them around the corner along with them.

* * *

“We need to be more organized,” said Yuuto, looking out over the camp from where they sat perched on a rooftop. Sayaka, Dennis, Yuuto, three birds lined up on a clothesline, mismatched but comfortable- save for Sayaka, who clung to the windowsill with knuckles turning white. Yuuto waved a hand out at the camp, the haphazard rows and the scramble of activity as the rebels who could ran about, trying to organize supplies for both the town and themselves. “We were a mess, when we were ambushed.”

Dennis lifted an eyebrow. "Is there a reason you're bringing this up now? I'm just a travelling entertainer. Even if I was taken in by Sakaki's rebellion."

Sayaka made a surprised little squeak that Dennis was mostly sure was directed at him. He raised an eyebrow at Yuuto, sure that he or one of the Kurosakis would have told the girl, but Yuuto just shrugged in response. So they were leaving him to keep his own secrets as he pleased. That suited him fine.

"I know, but... Do you remember how it was organized? Sakaki... that rebellion got close. The closest any rebellion has in over a century. So I thought that if you remembered..."

Dennis thought for a moment, glad he had the excuse of painful memories to fall back on. The years of Academia's training sprang to mind immediately- though he was never supposed to be any sort of proper soldier, every student knew the basics of strategy, of organization. Faint memories of old lessons flit fast through his mind, and Dennis let out a long breath. "I don't remember much.  But I can tell you what I do."

He talked in circles, taking bits of memory as examples. Yusho and his guards. Yoko and her mounted riders. The children were kept far from the fighting, he explained, filling the holes in his knowledge with speculation, both baseless and sound. How to organize units; let them figure out how to keep them balanced by themselves. "Sorry," Dennis laughed, "That was probably confusing."

"No," said Sayaka, "I think I understood that.”

“Really?” Yuuto asked, “I think it was all a little over my head.” Being humble, Dennis thought- Yuuto was much smarter than the front he put on. But he could see the gears in Sayaka’s mind turn, one thing snagging on the next and cascading into possibility. A theory she could put into practice.

“Excuse me,” she said, then turned back inside. Dennis and Yuuto watched as not a minute later she ran out the front door, racing back towards the center of camp, notebook in hand. It wasn’t long before she roped Ruri and Shun into her plans, and within the day every member of the rebel camp had a unit, a travelling group, and a pool of supplies. It reminded him so heavily of Sakaki, how he had drawn his camp, that for a moment Dennis could feel himself there, as if he could close his eyes and open them four years younger, holding a wooden sword against pretend opponents whose faces were starting to blur around the edges.

“Do you think it’s okay?” Sayaka asked, having done so much and yet still seeking approval. Dennis mirrored the nods of those gathered around him.

“It’s great,” Dennis said to her, and Sayaka smiled. The girl caught on fast indeed.

* * *

The march across the territories was long and arduous, despite the flat terrain, and the Rebels of Heart stopped in the late afternoon to rest around a small lake. Dennis helped to set up camp, then wandered off to the beach, sitting back against a smooth rock to rest his aching feet. His heart clawed at his ribs, and Dennis let his eyes fall closed as his heart slipped from him. He’d have to do the laundry he brought along eventually- but the ache in his shoulders had never quite left from the last battle, and he doubted there would be anyone to bother him for a long while. Satisfied, he relaxed, feeling his heart move vaguely around him as the soft sounds of wind and water lulled him close to sleep. It lasted a long moment, then-

A jolt, sudden and wild. Dennis jumped to his feet, head snapping to the left-

Shun stood with a bluebird perched on his finger. It chirped cheerily to the small falcon perched on Shun’s shoulder before fluttering off to land on Ruri’s head. She giggled in quiet delight. Dennis pulled his heart back with a snap that sent a spasm of pain through the hollow cavern of his chest. The bluebird flew back at haste, settled on the rock that Dennis had been leaning against-

Dennis blinked. Academia’s bloodlust faded from his eyes. Ruri and Shun were casting him glances, varying levels of concerned. “I’m sorry,” Ruri called out, approaching slowly, not quite meeting his gaze, “Do you not like having your heart touched? I know we’re a little more casual than most, but…”

“It’s fine,” Dennis said, automatic, but the words couldn’t help but come out hollow. He prayed that they wouldn’t notice- and, at the very least, the two of them dropped it. They carried their own fraying baskets of laundry down over to the waterside, slipping off their shoes at its edge. Dennis sank back down to watch them a while, forcing its heart back into its usual rhythm.

Ruri washed a few things, then threw them at Shun and waded out of the water. She dried her feet on the grass, staining the bottoms of them bright green, then settled down next to Dennis, on the other side from his laundry basket.

“I really am sorry,” Ruri said. Her heart chirped contrite from somewhere above their heads.

“It’s fine,” Dennis repeated, meaning it a little more this time. A moment of quiet, the rustling leaves in the trees and water lapping slowly at the shore of the lake. It was almost relaxing enough for Dennis to close his eyes again, then-

“Your hand,” Ruri said, looking down at his bare palm, and Dennis immediately curled it into a first, glancing fast at his glove atop the laundry pile. _Damn his laxness, today_. “Is that why you always- oh, sorry. Is that another thing I shouldn’t..?”

There was the light weight of a coin tucked into his rolled-up sleeve. Dennis flicked his wrist and had it appear between his fingers, much to Ruri’s delight. He rolled it between them a moment, then let it fall into his palm, falling among the fragments of light stuck in the flesh between the lines of it. “I started learning tricks because I wanted to believe in magic.”

Shun began to wander over towards them, aiming, probably, to hang the wet clothes over the rocks. Dennis took a moment to ponder how much he wanted to say, then- “A long time ago, I saw something that I’ve never seen since.”

There had been a festival of some sort, though Dennis had not remembered for what- only that there had been a grand procession, heading deep into Academia’s territory. It had travelled far, they said, and still had far to go. But for now it was a marvel, a great thing doused in silver and purple and blue, glowing like the night sky beneath the sun.

He had scrambled up to the roof to get a better view. Though the sun had yet to fully set, the moon was visible in the western sky, glowing dull, a precursor the night about to arrive. Something had glinted, falling down below- something impossibly beautiful, and the young Dennis couldn’t help but reach out, enchanted by its glamour the same of that of the traveling performers he so loved.

Dennis reached out and caught a piece of the twilight in his hand. It sank gentle into his palm, pulsing sweet and warm in time with his heart. The heart-hound at his side- a puppy with too-long ears and stubby legs- nudged at his palm, nose wet and sniffing loud. And he had felt- felt something, then, something impossible to describe and perfectly full of a light-headed quality slightly disorienting, not-quite confusion-

Beneath him, the procession had continued, but Dennis hadn’t seen another bit of it, too distracted by the lights that flickered beneath his skin. He still didn’t know how long he spent out there that night, waiting to hold his hand up to the night sky that never arrived, to compare those shards to the stars they so resembled.

Yet still. On the day that the world spent celebrating the end of the third god’s darkness, that was the closest thing to true magic that Dennis had ever seen. Like the miracle of a goddess, an event that had transcended life and death and all the boundaries drawn between heart and body.

“It sounds beautiful,” Ruri said, meaning every word of it. She traced a finger along the lines of his left palm that he had splayed out to show her, and the fractured pieces of twilight gleamed faintly under his skin.

“Sounds like you got cursed by some witch,” Shun called from behind the rock, and Ruri groaned, rolled her eyes.

“Shun! Learn some tact!” she yelled back, then leaned over Dennis to grab his laundry basket, pulling it up into her arms. At Dennis’ protests, she shook her head. “Nope! Paying you back for the story.”

“Want to do mine, too?” yelled Yuuto, waving them over from a little ways down the water, where he and his heart were trotting towards them, two baskets in his arms.

Ruri muttered under her breath, the disbelief not hard to hear- “How did he end up with so _much_?” Then yelled back to Yuuto- “No way! Ask Shun to help clean your gross old clothes!”

In the end, all three rebels ended up in the water, washing a bucket of clothes each, after Dennis, with an overly-polite smile, declined each attempt to get him to help until they gave up the game. Yuuto’s heart, a smaller dog than usual, lay on its side at the shore, eyes closed and chest rising and falling slow. Ruri’s heart, a red-breasted robin jumped about at its side. And Shun’s, as always, was still perched atop his shoulder. If it was anyone else, Dennis would have called the arrangement fragile, but Shun seemed to have a way of doing this without getting talons impaled in his shoulder, so Dennis shrugged and let it be. His own heart had finally ceased in its strange weight, again sitting comfortable in his chest.

In the water, Shun, whose now-empty bucket had been considerably less full than the other two, exchanged a long glance with Dennis. There was something in that gaze that Dennis couldn’t help but like, and he nodded. Shun tossed over the wet clothes to him; Dennis hung them quickly atop the rock.

Meanwhile, Shun submerged his bucket slowly, as if dragging it along the water before he got out-

Ruri and Yuuto paid this no mind. Dennis watched with one eye as Ruri turned to ask Yuuto something, then-

Shun splashed her while her back was turned. Ruri shrieked and turned to him, glaring at her very likely smirking brother. "Oh," she said, voice abruptly low, "you've done it now."

Ruri seized the bucket at her feet, and Shun, realizing his miscalculation, jumped back quickly, further down the shore. But Ruri was faster, dragging the bucket through the shallow water and throwing it over Shun. His falcon squawked in protest, soaring from his shoulder before the splash could dampen its feathers.

"You're both ridiculous!" Yuuto yelled over at them. Shun and Ruri both promptly turned their attention over at him, Ruri leaning down to refill the bucket with a dangerous gleam to her eyes. Yuuto groaned, then his lips pulled into a smile as he picked up his own bucket, circling carefully around the waiting Ruri and Shun.

Dennis crept around them, snatching the bucket that Ruri had used the first time from the shore. Ruri and Yuuto had long since seen him, but Shun still had his back turned. Dennis filled his bucket quickly as he could, then took a quiet step forwards and dumped it over Shun’s head.

“I thought you were on my side!” Shun whirled around and yelled at him, now the most thoroughly doused of any of them. Dennis smiled with all the charm he could muster.

“Now, I don’t remember ever agreeing to that!” he said cheerfully, and dashed back up the shore, far out of Shun’s bucket range. What he hadn’t counted on, exactly, was Shun chasing him all the way back to camp with a bucket full of water, much to the amusement of everyone they narrowly dodged past on the way. Sayaka started yelling out to chide them, but eventually just sighed and stood to watch the chase instead.

And when Shun finally, finally pulled close enough to dump it over him, Dennis could only join him in laughing at it all- for a moment, the world and all its problems had gone very, very far away.


	10. Interlude E

Sayaka was not of particular use to the Rebellion, a movement caught up in full bloom. She possessed no affinity for blade, lance, or bow; her heart was a thing stuck fast in her chest, fluttering fast with her nervous breaths. What she could do was limited largely to what others told her to do, to those paths that she was pushed down rather than those she paved herself.

She knew this. Despite the encouraging words, the assurances that as much as she could do was enough, she knew that she was a burden. Another mouth to feed, another non-combatant left to keep camp while the world around them shriveled and burned. She had fast learned how to handle the affairs of the rebels, Ruri had told her, but it was still a task that anyone could have learned, that she or Yuuto or Dennis or Shun could have done with equal skill. She shouldn’t have done this. The Resistance had begun to bloom at home. She shouldn't have-

“You’re not being a burden,” Ruri said, and Sayaka startled. She hadn’t heard the other girl approach the stream. Sayaka silently added it to the list of reasons she made a terrible soldier. 

“How did you know that’s what I was thinking about?” she asked, looking up at Ruri the way she always seemed to be doing. Ruri’s heart fluttered over between them, a red cardinal flecked with brown, chirping at her in ways she didn’t understand.

Ruri pointed at her forehead. “You get this expression on your face. Like you’re trying to keep a secret from the entire world and it’s going to drown you if you don’t tell someone.”

Funny, Sayaka thought, remembering Ruri just woken from her dream,  _ you do the exact same thing. _ Aloud, she said, “I wanted to help. All I do is make people worry about me.” 

"Let me tell you a secret," Ruri said, patting down the grass and settling down beside her. "Back home? I was  _ awful _ at managing the house. Yuuto had to handle money and the chore list and stuff. Being the Maiden doesn't make my any better at it. You're saving me worry."

_ But I can't fight. I freeze up and forget and I can't even use my heart- _ but before she could say a word, Ruri broke into her thoughts. 

“Besides,” Ruri said, leaning her shoulder against Sayaka’s, “I feel better that you’re here. I’ve never told anyone about my dreams before. The way that the gods promise miracles, or the things that they show me… I never told Yuuto or Shun before because I thought they’d worry about me. Now I think they might just be mad that I kept the secret so long. So I mean it. I’m glad you’re here.” 

There were a thousand things that Sayaka could have said to that, most of them things that she didn’t really mean, though she knew it would make Ruri happy to hear them. Instead she asked a quiet question. “Then, when you’re feeling that way, will you at least tell me?”

Ruri pulled her shoulder back to glance over at her, a little startled, maybe a little more than taken aback. Sayaka stuttered, tried to make it right after she’d overstepped- “Um, I mean, more like, if I tell you something that’s bothering me, you can tell me something that’s bothering you and then that way we both at least can tell one person without having to worry?” Sayaka finished at a squeak, thinking that she’d just made a fool of herself again- but Ruri broke into a smile, honest and sweet, and relief coursed through her as the air left her lungs.

“Okay,” she said, and whatever strange agreement they had been skirting around the edges of after Ruri’s nightmare in her tent had been fulfilled. 

It was, Sayaka thought, the start of something. A friendship, on equal terms- and Sayaka found she liked the sound of that much better than a debt she could never repay, a goal she could spend the rest of her life trying to reach and still come up short. 

“Okay,” Sayaka echoed, and Ruri’s heart chirped a cheerful response. A casual-  _ I’m counting on you _ . Sayaka smiled, a quiet thing she couldn’t stifle. It felt nice, she thought, to be trusted with something only she could do.


	11. Act III, Part 2

When they arrived at the next town down the road- Diamond Town, the biggest that they'd seen yet as they crept closer and closer towards the old territorial capital- they found it gated and closed, guarded by the outer remnants of walls to a castle that had long since fallen back to the earth. A man of proud stature and likely old blood stood before the gates to meet them. His eyes were wary as Ruri approached, his hands shifted around something tucked under his arm. Dennis distrusted him instantly.

"I'm the mayor of this old place. State your purpose!" he shouted when they were a little ways down the road. Ruri stepped forwards a bit to address him.

"As a representative of the Rebels of Heart," said Ruri, "We'd like to request a place to sleep for the night."

"No." His tone was hard, unflinching and flat.  _ Get out and leave us well alone _ was unspoken, but only just barely.

"With all due respect," Ruri continued, unshaken, "we ask only for one night's worth of lodgings. We've travelled quite far, and our battles against Academia have-" 

“What do you know?” spat the man, and Dennis spotted the shock jump fast though Ruri’s eyes before she smothered it, straightened her shoulders.

She said, her voice gaining strength with every clipped syllable, “Excuse me?”

The man scowled, turned up his lip. “Yeah, you heard me. What in the hell do a bunch of little  _ kids _ know about going off to war? Going to be all excited when one of your friends here gets their throat ripped out by one of Academia’s dogs? Going to cheer when Academia comes to raze us to the ground because we let you and your little gang of pretend revolutionaries stay a night?”

“We are made of far more than just children. We-“

He spit at her- too far to reach, but message clear. Ruri did not flinch. It only seemed to make the man angrier, and he continued, “No. Get out. Get out and get far away.”

He pulled the weapon out from under his arm; Dennis recognized it instantly. Not even Academia had access to many of them, the methods of creation not yet standardized and the sheer price of maintaining one too much for most- but it was, undoubtedly, a rifle.

Shun lunged forwards, and Dennis grabbed him by the wrist before he could think any better of it. Yuuto grabbed him by the other, and Shun turned on them, the start of a protest halfway from his lips before Yuuto cut him off with a strong shake of his head.

"His weapon," Dennis whispered, and Shun glanced back at the man, who had raised it to point at Ruri, hunched his shoulders to take aim. Shun scowled, made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, too quiet for the man to hear.

“We need to get in there,” Shun hissed at them instead. 

“Not like this,” hissed Yuuto back. "We can't ruin our credibility. We're still small. We can't have our own citizens turn against us." It was true, no matter how little any of them wanted to admit it. They were growing, certainly, and their skirmishes against Academia’s regular patrols- resounding victories, all- had only raised their reputation. But they could not speak for everyone, could not ask everyone to shoulder the same risk as they had chosen to undertake. 

Ruri spoke again and brought them back to silence. “I understand. While I wish you would consider it again, I do not wish to put you in any undue danger. If Academia arrives at your doorstep,have no shame to tell them what you’ve done.”

“Good riddance,” said the mayor as Ruri turned her back on him, retreating with face of stone and dignity bent but not broken. 

“We’ll be fine,” Ruri said, and spoke mostly as if she was not trying to make herself believe it, “We’ll camp over down in those fields.”

The march down to the far floodplains was eerily silent as the news of what had happened flickered back down the line of rebels. Once Dennis had finished pitching his tent, Shun having disappeared somewhere halfway through the process, he wandered back towards Ruri's tent, an idea half-formed in his mind and speckled, fluffy cat at his heels. He found Shun and Yuuto already gathered there, ideas flying fast between them and Sayaka and Ruri.

"If we have to, we can bribe them," Ruri said, but Sayaka shook her head.

"I don't think that man would need the money. The church here is quite famous, and many people make the pilgrimage here. It’s one of the richest towns in Xyz."

“I’ll go investigate,” Dennis offered, sneaking into the circle between Yuuto and Ruri. In response to Shun’s quirked eyebrow, he continued, “What, they won’t recognize me. Throw on some new clothes, a new attitude-“ Dennis snapped his fingers, pulled the red ribbon from around his neck, “And I’m a different person.”

He could see the persona so clearly, the mask slipping on easy in some places, the flesh peeling back gently in others. An easygoing entertainer hit some times down hard on his luck, jumping from city to city across Xyz as he headed off towards Synchro, ignoring the news and banking on spending some nicer days in the capital city. At his side, his heart grew fast and sudden, fur turning short and dark and features growing wider until what sat on its haunches at his side was a dog.

It only took a moment, but he had even Shun nodding along in approval by the time he was a few sentences into his new self-introduction. "I'll circle back around and come down the road again. They might have someone watching from the wall."

“I’ll go with,” offered Sayaka, but Dennis shook his head, sharp.

“No. More than one person would attract attention.”

“But, I-“

“No,” said Dennis again. Sayaka shrank back. Dennis tried to give her a sympathetic look; how much it actually helped the girl’s wounded pride was probably little. Dennis felt bad, a momentary flutter that had his heart looking up at Sayaka with a black and brown shepherd's apologetic eyes. He knew she was about to insist that she had the skills to do it- and the girl was observant, oftentimes timid but deceptively smart. She was kind at heart; much of a mask wouldn’t have been necessary. But it had nothing to do with her abilities. Dennis couldn’t allow another blessing to fall into the Rebel’s hands. One had been too many; Yuuri had reminded him of that. 

“One person out of a crowd they won’t recognize. The more people you add, the better chance that someone realizes who we belong with,” he said by way of explanation. The accusations in the glances of the rebels slipped away, replaced by an easy understanding.

“How long do you think you’ll take?” Ruri asked, and Dennis came to a snap decision.

“I’ll stay overnight,” he said- long enough for Yuuri to approach him with information, if that was the plan, and long enough to investigate on his own without attracting too much suspicion if it wasn’t. The rebels nodded, having no reason to disagree.

He changed up his clothes a bit- lost the vest, the ribbon around his neck, switched his shirt for one in pastel tones. Tie his hair back a bit, practice his usual smile. Best not to change too much, best to alter just enough. Ruri gave him the okay and wished him well, nervousness clear around her shaky edges. He turned his back, took no more than four steps out before Ruri had called him back, something clenched in her fist. “A good luck charm for you,” said Ruri, holding out her bracelet. “I actually gave it to Shun yesterday, and Yuuto the day before that. I think it’s your turn again.”

The air around him tensed, turned cold and expectant as he reached out reluctant to take it. Though her intentions were good, in truth the bracelet only unsettled him- like it was tugging at a memory outside his body, like a whisper or a flash of familiar movement that he could only view through a great and shifting fog. His heart shifted on its paws beside him. Still, he slipped it on his wrist to appease her. “Thank you,” he said, though the air around him had only grown heavier. He said, reassuring and final, “I’ll be careful.”

“Okay,” said Ruri, “you better be.”              

With a wave goodbye he started to backtrack through the woods, back down the parallel to the road, far enough that when he reemerged it would be plausible that he hadn’t come from the camp. The walk gave him time to consider. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, exactly- only that Ruri had been convinced of the presence of a blessing in this town. Sensed it from down the road, she had said, though she refused to divulge on the details. He came up on the gate all too quickly, watched as the man pulled his rifle back into his grip.

He was already wearing his mask; he had nothing to fear. Dennis sauntered up easy and without a trace of hesitation. Just another town and some unfamiliar wood and metal contraption. "State your business."

“Just a travelling entertainer,” said Dennis, snapping his fingers and pulling a coin from thin air, “looking for a place to stay the night.”

The mayor looked him over hard. Dennis met him with the conviction of a man who knew he was innocent. Finally, the mayor sighed, heavy and resigned. “Fine, fine. The inn will put you up if you can put on a show. Just don’t overstay your welcome, what with those rebels out there. Academia will be after them soon. I’ll do my damndest to make sure this town stays safe this time when they do.”

_ This time _ ? thought Dennis, but had no opportunity to ask. The gates opened at the mayor’s signal, and Dennis stepped through. The town was mostly as Dennis had expected it to be- a great mash of modern and old architecture, obvious which homes had been built at the time of the crumbled castle on the neighboring hill and which ones no more than a decade ago. There was a small shop selling local fruit and produce close to the entrance, so Dennis stopped to pick up a few, glancing at the newspapers stacked at the side of the table.

_ City in Distress _ , read the headline in bulky text- more of the same, more of the same. Dennis scanned the article as he waited, tried not to let it worry him. He’d play his part to stop it, just as he had to. Just as he did-

The shopkeep set down his bag of fruit on the counter with a muttered, “Sorry for the wait.”

"One of the newspapers, too," Dennis said, waving away the shopkeep's apologies. He procured the extra coin and the shopkeep handed over the bag and newspaper. Dennis settled down beneath a nearby tree and read as he ate.

_ CIty in Distress- Academia Scholars Promise to Move Fate _ . Dennis snorted at the headline- as if it was so easy to manipulate the threads of fate as the general public seemed to believe, some days- but skimmed it regardless. Professor Akaba Leo, current head of Academia's scholars and Prophet of the Age, promising to take care of the Resistance in the territories and find in the threads of fate a future of peace and healing-

Subsidiaries of the Rebels of Heart appearing in local towns, tiny little Resistances of their own making-

Champions of the City, vanished and still without a trace as to their whereabouts-

An unlucky month for those whose hearts preferred to take the shape of dogs- at his side, the shepherd pushed its wet nose into his side. Dennis muttered, pushing its head away- "That's not what I prefer." 

Fruit gone, then, Dennis stood and wiped his fingers off on the news- nothing of real relevance, anyways- and started towards where he guessed the inn would be. In the end, it wasn't hard to find- a great painted sign outside proclaimed it the  _ Barian Hotel _ , like the fairytale spirits of the ancient days. He pushed his way inside and was immediately assaulted by loud, slightly slurred conversation.

"Ah, come on! You know! Like that whole prophecy stuff!"

Two men bantered at a table near the entrance. The talk immediately set Dennis on edge, and he shuffled away, trying to get out of earshot- but unfortunately, the restaurant-lobby was small, and he could only do so much.

“Yeah. What was it… Two pillars of light draw hope through the night.... and, uh…”

“No, you idiot. That’s the last one. The one that went all wrong. When’s the last time we had  _ night _ , huh?”

“Well sorry, I’m not some kinda  _ prophet." _

The second man scoffed. "Damn Akabas are just old Kings trying to relive the glory days anyway. Never got the message that the capital's supposed to be in the West. Well I say-"

Dennis turned away from the tasteless talk, slid instead into a recently vacated seat over by the bar. He attempted to cover it up with conversation of his own, ordering something whose name he had only heard and talking his way easy into a room in exchange for a show as he ate.

The flavor was good, made rich with the spices of the faraway capital, and the chatter was simple, pleasing topics as the room filled up with diners and guests. Many of them looked weary- fleeing, then, from the path of conflict. Dennis couldn’t blame them, and he did what he did best- distract them, lead them away from the reality that hid behind flimsy masks of belief and put a smile on their face.

It was easy to slip into an entertainer's mind- to make his tricks a little flashy for the girl sitting in the front, giggling away and tracing patterns into the newspaper confetti now coating her table, or to create a slow build for the grandfather sitting near the back of the tables, sipping beer and nodding along with increasing approval as the show charged on. He couldn’t hide his smile. there was no need to, when he let the love of his art spill from him in every movement, every word.

By the time he took his final bow, the entire lounge was clapping for him.

"Hey, kid!" Someone called as he stepped off the stage, yielding for the usual entertainment. Dennis paused, glanced around, trying to locate who had called for him.

“You remind me of Yusho,” said one of the women near the front, and Dennis ran frantically through the faces he’d committed to memory from Yusho’s rebellion as he approached. She added, a little more somber, “You remind me of Yuuya, or…”

Dennis froze halfway towards her. “Yusho was my inspiration, when I was younger. I saw some of his earlier performances for the court.”

The woman let out a long breath. “The court, huh? That brings back a lot of old memories. Riding in the streets, watching the shows…” The woman laughed, a little bitter. “Well. It was a long time ago, now.”

“I can’t do much about it now,” said the woman, glancing outside to the fields, where the tents of the rebellion were visible on the side of a far hill, “but I wish I could have done more, back then. And now.”

The woman leaned back in her chair; the motion sent a slip of blonde hair over her shoulder. Dennis realized, suddenly, that the woman was in a wheelchair.

“Sakaki… Yoko.”

“Huh? You know me?” she said, suddenly, as if she hadn’t made it very obvious.

“You were rather famous,” Dennis said by way of explanation. 

Yoko gave a quiet little laugh, and Dennis thought there was something rather wistful about it. A little longing, a little regret. Just as he remembered her, she wasn't a woman that played close with her emotions. When she spoke again, she lowered her voice. Dennis stepped over and sat at her side to hear. She glanced him over, gaze lingering on something, and Dennis resisted the urge to double check that he’d left his ribbon behind. “Tell me the truth. You aren’t with those rebels out there?”

Dennis shook his head. Yoko looked him over, then sighed and continued. “I lost three people, because of prophecy. If there was a way I could cross the terrain like I used to, well..." A small smile crossed her lips. Dennis called up his shaky memories of Yoko, the fearsome rebel valkyrie, dashing across the territories from rebel camp to battlefield on her gorgeous black mare of a heart. A reverse shooting star, a warrior of pure black dashing through the neverending day.

Yoko shook her head. "I stopped believing in prophecies, I think. But I'd still be out there helping those kids in a heartbeat if I didn't have a kid to take care of, now. One I'll never show another battlefield."

_ "Battles will be your home-" _ rang the old voice, and Dennis willed it away with the sounds of strings being plucked softly in the background, a warmup before the first song. He said to Yoko, "I don't blame you."

"I'm sorry," said Yoko, "I've taken up too much of your time. I'm sure you don't want to be talking to an old woman like me-" she waved away Dennis' protests- "so go on. I've got to get back to my rooms anyway. Thank you for your show tonight. It reminded me of something important."

“What was that?” he asked, torn between the need to know and the desire to take back the words that had escaped him.

“Of their smiles. Of the reason why I fought.” With that, Yoko wheeled herself towards the hall that led to the inn's rooms. She still had that fire about her, Dennis thought, that blazing, wild spirit of hers that Academia’s marksman had stolen with his arrow struck true. Despite the heartbreak that had once turned her horse’s knees to stone and thrown her from its back, landing amongst the fray with a heart that weighed her down and tore at her flesh just as much as a blade, that could not be torn from her as easily as a heart. Too many memories of the past he had tucked neatly behind him began to bubble up, and Dennis started out, wanting to walk and busy himself with the search for a blessing he wouldn't be able to identify.

Under the guise of a traveler’s restless curiosity, Dennis wandered around the town for a while. Though it turned heads, the majority of the townspeople simply let him be, on-edge and anxious in the face of potential combat outside their doors. Dennis couldn’t blame them. Despite spending most of his life wrapped up in one battle or another, he’d never quite lost his distaste for the destruction that accompanied it. 

But that line of thought only brought old words to mind, and he returned his thoughts to the surroundings. He'd had enough of the morbid talk of old times with Yoko. The world before him was quietly bustling, people moving about their nightly routines more tentatively than usual amongst the grey stone and low evening light. In truth, Dennis knew not what he was looking for. Academia only knew- or, Dennis thought, quite probably was only willing to tell him- the location of the first blessing, where the Professor had thought the epicenter of rebellion to be. He simply let his feet carry him, winding through the side streets of the old town without seeing the scenery.

“It’s here,” said a voice, quiet, thin. He froze in his tracks. For a moment, Dennis thought that he had imagined it, but when he glanced down, an unfamiliar child stood a little ways behind him, gaze locked blank up at the engravings above the chapel door. “Can you sense them, too?”

“Sorry,” he replied, “Not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

His feet had carried him there, certainly- but there was nothing that had drawn him there, no pull, no tug at the seams of his consciousness. Not the way he knew when Yuuri would appear, not the way the fragment of the twilight in his hand ached when the sun reached its lowest point on the horizons.

The child considered him with empty eyes. The sheer depths of them sent a shiver down Dennis' spine. When the child spoke again it was stiff and calculated, as if they lacked something fundamental, something human- as if they were only a marionette, dancing on someone else's string. "But you've seen it before. You're aware of the proof. You’re the one he sent, aren’t you?"

"Sorry, kid," Dennis said, taking a step back, holding up his hands, "you've lost me. Get home safe, okay?”

The kid reached out a hand, and something glimmered on their wrist for a moment before their long sleeve fell back over it- but Dennis only caught that one glimpse as he turned. When he glanced over his shoulder, the child was still there, staring up at the chapel doors. He almost would have preferred that the child had disappeared, like a ghost. At least that would have explained the unnerving coil that had formed in his gut, cold and sure as the pinpricks of his heart that he had witnessed something off.

* * *

Dennis had stayed the night in the inn- he wasn't passing up the chance to sleep in a real bed, that night, and he doubted that any of the other rebels would have, either- but he slipped out early in the morning, when the sun was still half-tucked beneath the horizon.

The storm clouds from the suspended twilight had rolled in low and fast, and Dennis hurried along to the camp, tasting the rain on the strengthening winds. It wouldn’t matter if he was seen, now- they would have to sneak into the town to investigate either way.

“Was it there?” Ruri asked, undeniably hopeful. Her fingers tapped gently at the makeshift tabletop, a rhythm that changed before it could truly begin.

Dennis slipped into the seat across from her and shook his head. “I didn’t see anything like what we saw before.”

Ruri’s expression fell.  _ Tap, tap, tap. _

“That can’t mean that someone’s already taken it, can it?” Ruri asked, and Shun shook his head.

“Impossible. No one else has rebelled since the new prophecy started except Sakaki, and his Rebellion never came this far to the west.” Shun glanced over at Dennis to confirm, and Dennis nodded. 

“So then it should still be here,” Ruri began, but from somewhere came a great roar, the kind that shook the skies and drowned out the howl of the wind as it pushed clouds along the stormy sky. The four were on their feet in an instant, dashing outside to the sound of thunder shattering the sky above their heads. Lightning flashed bright and branched between the clouds, tracing the cracks in the sky, illuminating a faint shape.

A dragon flew low below the clouds, and the rebels hissed up at it. The dragon circled the town a few times before setting down at its outskirts, followed by a smaller figure that Dennis couldn’t quite make out.

“Academia,” Shun snarled, and bolted towards the town. Above them his heart soared, a speck in the sky, racing towards where they had lost sight of the dragon.

“Shun!” Yuuto yelled, then dashed after him, greyhound racing before him. Ruri followed close behind, hair fluttering over her shoulders.

Dennis watched for a moment. It was off. Something about the scenario was wrong- but he let the moment pass, then chased after them again. He crossed the fields in half the time it took him to arrive, found the other three creeping about a side entrance to the town, glancing down alleys and streets. It was lucky, Dennis thought, for the early hour. If they met the mayor again, Dennis doubted that he’d hesitate to shoot after they’d broken their word, no matter what their intentions were.

Yuuto's heart was back as a bloodhound again, its nose pressed to the ground as it sniffed loud- and then it broke into a run, racing down the street, towards the route that Dennis had taken the twilight prior. The town was shuttered tight, first for the impending storm, then boarded up and lights extinguished when they'd heard the dragon’s roars. The warning of the dragonheart fighting for Academia had long since made its way through the territory in its entirety, whispered low and terrified from witness to listener, from listener to gossiper.

Yuuto’s heart ground to a halt before the chapel, in almost the exact place that Dennis had been standing. He glanced around, wondering how they’d made it this far without interference- but stopped questioning their lucky fates as the rain began to pour down on them, violent and without warning.

The chapel doors had been thrown open wide, leading to an interior better lit than most of the town- in their haste, it seemed, no one had thought to extinguish the candles dappling the wide space. Dennis spared a glance around for the strange child, half-expecting to see them floating about, a strange spirit haunting the church- but there were only the rebels, and Dennis faced forwards again. 

“Academia’s already inside,” said Yuuto, squinting in against the rain.

“So don’t just say it, hurry up!” Shun said, then leapt the few steps up to the chapel.

There was another door on the far side that was open a crack, and the rebels made their way towards it. They snatched thin candles from their holders as they stalked through the chapel aisles, and Shun pulled the door open with a gust of stale air.

"Where does it go?" Ruri asked, trying to shine the light of a weak candle down into the narrow passageway.

"Let's find out," said Shun, taking the light from her and plunging into the darkness. Ruri followed fast behind, then Dennis and Yuuto at the rear. The passageway quickly turned into a steep staircase, and they moved fast as they dared, hands pressed to the cracked and dry wall to keep their balance. The stairs seemed to go on forever, a strange loop of the same similar cracks down the walls and the same water lines running down from the dirt ceiling. The only thing that kept Dennis sure that they were moving in the right direction was how the air grew harder and harder to breathe, stale must overtaking everything else. 

"Damn," said Shun from the front, followed by the sound of a hiss. The passageway plunged into sheer darkness, complete and consuming. Though Ruri was just before him, Dennis couldn’t see even a hint of her silhouette. The rebels stopped in their tracks.

They'd lost the light. 

"There weren't torches or anything up on the walls?" Yuuto asked, and there was a vague rustling of fabric up ahead- someone shaking their head before realizing that it was impossible to see.

“No,” Ruri replied, “I didn’t see anything like that.”

“The steps were even,” said Shun from the front, and there came the tap of the soles of his shoes over the stone stairs once, then twice. “If we’re careful, we can make it. We’ll just lose time.” Though he was the one who suggested it, his voice was made heavy for the clear loathing he felt for giving up the chase to the blessing.

Throughout it all Dennis was examining his left hand, holding it right up to his face until he could practically feel the leather of his glove brushing against his nose. Even that, he could barely see. The other hand was impossible entirely. 

"Wait," Dennis said, then closed his eyes and concentrated. He thought of the deck of cards tucked safe into his rucksack, of the familiar edges and feel of them in his hands- and of a picture, drawn carefully into it with thick charcoal lines and dyed with bright hints of orange. He focused on the echo of his heartbeat, of the pulses in his wrists beating time consistent, a rhythm that guided the pieces of his heart as they broke away blue and swirled in the air before him, dusting across his eyes before clumping tight into a ball above his head. He waited, waited, commanded his heart into the shape that he demanded of it- there.

Dennis snapped his fingers and heat burst out before him, a great and overwhelming warmth that accompanied an orange flash of light. After a moment it settled down, and Dennis opened his eyes, squinting slightly against the brightness. The rebels did the same, and Ruri gasped at what she saw. Before them was a fire mote, a wisp burning its own energy as it floated neatly in the air above their heads.

"That’s amazing,” Ruri said, entranced by the way it floated slow above their heads, the crackle of its flames casting long shadows behind them.

Yuuri’s words echoed in his head-  _ you know what happens _ \- but it was his only choice. He wasn’t risking death by scrambling down in the dark, nor did he plan to plead mercy from the town mayor doubtless waiting for them at the top of the steps. There would be no time for threats, not with the rebels at his side. “It’s one of my cards,” Dennis said, “but I can’t keep it up for long. Let’s go.”

The mote floated out before them, hovering out a comfortable distance in front of Shun, and they hurried down the staircase, taking it as quickly as they dared- but the steps soon leveled out into a different sort of area, a small circular room with a set of closed doors its only decoration.

“What  _ is _ this?” Yuuto asked, and Shun reached out a hand to push the doors open. Dennis joined him to push the other, feeling exhaustion start to creep up in the slope of his shoulders and the small of his back, his wrists beginning to ache with each beat- but the doors sprang open surprisingly smooth.

They did not slam, though the motion was fast and fluid. Despite the worn look of them, the hinges did not creak when they revealed the hallway behind. It was narrow and dimly lit, torches springing to life down the corridor as the doors swung open wide. And only then, once they had stopped, an echoing and desolate creak. Dennis breathed a sigh of relief and let his heart burst back into blue dust. It curled up in his chest, the beat of it tired but content. Shun pulled a torch close to the wall from its holder, brandishing it before him. The others did the same, bracing for a trap that never came.

They paused for a moment at the entrance, judging the space- the height, the width, the way the light played at the cracks of the stone and the sound of water dripping somewhere far down the corridor. One by one their hearts disappeared into their chests, except for Yuuto’s dog, bright green eyes opened wide against the encroaching darkness.

The hall was short; they crossed it in less than a minute. Another set of doors awaited them, this time with a brass plaque set beside them.  _ Church of Heaven Catacombs _ , it read, and the group exchanged a glance, feeding off each other’s unsettled looks. The main doors, made of dark, heavy wood and adorned with iron, were already thrown open. The evidence that Academia had already advanced into the catacombs, undeniable before them.

“Stop wasting time,” Ruri said, though it sounded more as if she was trying to convince herself than anyone else present, and stepped into the catacombs. The others followed, and the moment they were clear the doors slammed shut behind them.

Yuuto’s dog growled as they jumped, hands on the hilt of their blades, ready to draw- but there was no one there.

“A ghost?” Dennis suggested, though he knew full well that though they may appear, no ghost could touch the physical plane. The joke did its job well enough. The rebels rolled their eyes and continued without hesitation, then. The only path left available to them was forwards, towards the blessing and whoever they would find inside.

The catacombs, thankfully, were not a labyrinth, simply a long, twisting corridor that seemed to be meandering vaguely towards the surface, if the way the air was slowly growing fresher, a hint of the breeze and the taste of air after the rain atop the layers of staleness. The rebels turned the corner, hastened by the promise of the surface, then immediately stopped in their tracks again.

Statues of men and women lined the hall beyond the turn, trapped forever in their fear as they ran down the hall, never to reach its end. The rebels approached slowly, taking in the rusted metal and intricate work- features created so realistically that only the coolness of their touch and the metallic bronze of their entirety gave away the fact that it was not humans who stood before them.

“This is a little terrifying,” Ruri remarked, too casual. Her eyes traced the line of a statue’s extended hand as she stepped carefully around it.

“Who makes things like this? For... for gravemarkers?” asked Yuuto. 

“Let’s hope we never meet them,” ended Shun, staring resolutely down the hall, passing them all to take the point.

Dennis glanced up at the statues, at the rust flaking from their fingertips and the folds of their clothes. He had been wrong- they weren’t men and women, but teenagers not much older than Dennis himself. Some of them wore familiar uniforms, the cuts and trims recognizable even without their bright, distinctive colors. He watched them carefully, trying to read into the lines of their expressions, caught wide in the midst of terror.

_ Why are you here _ ? He wondered. _ And why was she following you? _

The further they progressed, the staler the air became again. Dusty to the taste, sitting heavy on the lungs and leaving them feeling as if they should gasp for air. The statues grew thinner but more varied- no longer were the rusted bodies running further in, but many had turned their backs, brandished weapons that had long since vanished from their grasp, fallen to the ground as they shielded their eyes against something that could no longer be seen.

"Doesn't this look like..." Ruri began, but made no move to finish. She paused by a statue of a girl younger than her holding a dull knife in one hand, an even younger child's in the other. None of the others moved to finish her sentence. 

There was a clattering, then a small yelp from Ruri in the front. "Ruri!"

"I'm fine," Ruri said, "I'm fine. I just..."

Ruri swung her light around for a moment, then headed over into a corner between a statue and the catacomb walls and bent down. The other three crowded around her. When Ruri stood again, there was a small box in her free hand, made of dark wood and gilded with gold at its edges. She held it up to Dennis. "Doesn't this look like-"

"The box where the bracelet was," Dennis finished. It was certainly similar- of the exact same make, Dennis assumed- but when Ruri flipped the box carefully over, there was no bracelet set onto its top. Ruri opened it, but there was nothing set inside the box, nothing nestled in the red velvet lining.

Ruri held her hand out for the bracelet. Dennis handed it to her, and tried to slide it into the empty indentation, but it would not fit, the wings encasing the jewel too wide for the hole. Ruri frowned, then slipped it onto her own wrist. "You don't think that-"

"Let's keep going until we have proof one way or the other," said Yuuto. The group exchanged a nod, and started down the passageway again. It wasn’t long before they were stopped again in their tracks, staring up at a set of doors just behind another turn. The doors themselves were only impressive due to their size- the real shock came from what lay before them. Two rusted, mechanical soldiers stood with lances crossed before the door, barring them firmly shut.

"What  _ is _ this?" Yuuto asked, stopped in his tracks.

Ancient Gears- so Academia  _ had _ been here before, just hadn’t seen fit to tell him of the blessing in its depths. Perhaps they hadn’t expected the Rebellion to come this far, perhaps the plans had changed- and yet.

Ruri walked up to one; Dennis called her back. She stopped with hand outstretched, turning to him with a wary curiosity not quite dulled. “They could be dangerous. We know Academia came in before us. If they got through these, then…”

“How do  _ we _ get past, then?” she asked, and Dennis stared up at the soldiers, wordless. They didn’t seem to be active, not like the ones he had sparred against so many times before, but it was always possible for them to spring back to life, called by their remote gemstone hearts and the summons of a Knight of Fusion- but he thought back to everything he had seen, and came up with a definite conclusion.

“It should be the same as before. It’ll open in the presence of someone with the potential to be a vessel. We just can’t touch any part of those things. It’s too dangerous.” The other three nodded, and Dennis ducked between the cross of their lances, pressing his gloved hand to the smooth wood, bracing for a trap- but the doors swung open smooth, and crouching, stepped into the room beyond.

He was hit immediately with a breath of air, fresh and bright, tasting of earth after the rain and flowers coming into full bloom. A wind raced through the massive cavern, illuminated only by torches that sprang to life and a tiny crack in the high roof of the cavern that a solitary figure was racing towards.

Shun stepped out from behind him and swore, pushed past Dennis to chase after them. His heart burst from him with an echoing cry, but was blown backwards by a force that Dennis couldn’t see and dissolved into sparks of silver before it could hit the ground. He gave half-hearted chase, Yuuto’s hound blowing past him only to be met with the same force that it couldn’t surpass, falling to the ground and vanishing there- but this time Dennis could feel it, the sudden gust of wind that blew through the cavern, too strong to be natural.

There was a staircase leading up to the place where the cavern met the crack in the ceiling, and the figure raced up it, taking the stairs with bounding, impossible leaps. Shun attempted the first few steps, only to be blown back down them, losing his footing and tumbling down with a hard impact at the bottom. Dennis grimaced, stopped to help Shun back to his feet- the figure was too high, now, for any of them to reach.

The girl stood at the edge of the precipice and reached up through the crack where light radiated out like rays from the stars. The sudden storm whipped at her short hair as the rays broke apart and the blessing danced around her, caught up like flakes of snow on the breeze.

And  _ oh _ , Dennis thought,  _ did Academia prepare for this, too? _

“Who are you?” Ruri yelled up, that fire raging in her now, burning away every trace of awe that any of them could have felt from the display.

The newcomer stared down at them as her storm winds faded, white feathers falling gentle to the cracked ground at her feet. She lifted her head and declared- “I am the Maiden of Wind and Wing, the vessel known as the Tempest Witch. If you need a name? You can call me Rin.”


	12. Interlude F

Ruri wouldn’t sleep well that night. It wasn’t as if she didn’t believe in Dennis, didn’t trust in his ability- but it sat uncomfortably heavy in her chest, the worry weighing down her heart. The impatience, the knowledge that the whisper she had heard in so many of her dreams was so  _ close _ -

“Want to talk?” Sayaka asked, and Ruri looked up from her half-arranged cards, watched Sayaka as she settled down beside her.

Ruri forced a smile, shuffled her tiny deck and practiced the trick draw Dennis had shown her the week before, when they had settled down at camp beside a tiny little farmhouse that had reminded Ruri too much of one she’d never see again. “Am I that obvious about it?”

“They’re worried that you’re worried,” Sayaka said, shrugging her shoulder slightly. Ruri gazed past her, towards where Yuuto and Shun were sitting on a tree stump, mulling over some of Shun’s sketches (dragons, she presumed) and pretending quite badly that they weren’t casting long glances over at Ruri. “They said you think too much and never tell anyone.”

_ That’s just like Shun, _ Ruri thought,  _ spilling all my secrets like that. _

"I haven't told anyone this before, but... I have this dream," Ruri said, "where I'm somewhere else. Someone else, even. And I have this power." Ruri glanced away a moment, trying to convince herself to speak the words, no matter how much of a childish daydream they sounded-

"In the dream," she began, "I'm standing there. With the two great gods. I'm all the way on the horizon, on this fluffy white cloud between the earth and the stars. And... And they smile at me. And they say-"

Ruri hesitated again, trying to bring the words to mind exactly- "’Darling child. You need not fear the dark. The dark god that mortals so fear is only of their own heart. And as such do you, with prayer whispered to our glory, need only tread the light, until the day that the prophecy ends and I may return from the ashes.’

“And then one of them disappears. Or maybe there was only one of them to begin with, I don’t know. But it’s just the one, and she loops something around my neck, but I can never see what it is, even if I remember to look. And then she apologizes, and I wake up.”

"It sounds amazing," said Sayaka, though she looked a little hesitant. Ruri urged her on with a nod of her head. Sayaka curled into herself for a moment, then said- "But... It's just a dream."

For a moment, Ruri wasn't sure if she should feel offended or not- this one, she had thought, this one was the one that meant something. That proved that she could use the magic running somewhere in her veins, that the gods had acknowledged her fit to wear the silver bracelet around her wrist.

But she remembered, suddenly, the last dream that she had shared with Sayaka. If one dream could blend with reality, she thought, what was to say that her nightmares couldn't do the same? She shuddered a little at the memory- the image was still so clear, the sight of herself falling bloodied and broken as she watched in third person, saw terror etched across her own face-

Ruri stopped, erased those images with the ones from her dreams of the gods.

"Sure," Ruri said, "but it's still a really nice one, don't you think?" Sayaka relaxed a little, and Ruri smiled at her, trying to show that she knew Sayaka hadn't meant any offense by it.

Sayaka nodded, made a small noise of affirmation. “If any of your dreams come true, I hope it’s that one.”

Ruri nodded, then turned her gaze back to the imposing walls of the town far across the fields. “Me too.”


	13. Act IV, Part 1

There was a rustle of motion behind him, fast but utterly unsubtle, lost in the motion of Shun trying towards the stairs once again on his hurt ankle. Dennis let the sharp point of a weapon be pressed against his spine, the weight a pressure barely there, coiled and ready to stab through. He turned his head just slightly, enough to catch sight of a flash of bright blond hair before the point dug in deeper. Dennis stilled. 

“Stop!” yelled the voice of the one behind him, and the rest of the rebels started, turned their weapons on the newcomer instead. “You won’t get a chance to hurt her!”

“Who are you-“ Ruri demanded, but she was cut off by the sound of the doors slamming open behind him, thrown forwards with the force of the Obelisk Force’s hunting dogs. 

“Stop them!” came the chorus from the Obelisk Force, and the press of the lance was gone from Dennis’ back in an instant, turned on the new arrivals.

“Too late!” yelled the boy with the lance with no small amount of glee, throwing his lance- short, Dennis noted, more of a javelin than anything- into the middle of the soldiers charging out of the narrow hall towards them. The soldiers slipped nearly to the sides, but the boy only grinned. The girl from the top of the precipice jumped down to his side in slow motion, dust caught up in the whirlwind at her feet. They nodded, in sync without glancing at each other even once. With twin bursts of white light, their hearts burst out from their chests. From him, a great white dragon, its scales glimmering in the low light with hints of green and blue, wings translucent and crystalline. From her, a winged white horse, trailing feathers and hooves hitting light, like the sound of bells.

The dragon’s mighty roar reverberated across the cavern, shaking into Dennis’ chest and piercing through his ears until all that was left was a ringing and the shaking of loose earth from the walls. It charged towards the Obelisk Force, lashing out with extended wings and whip of its tail before dissolving back into showers of white. Dennis recovered his balance, took stock of the situation. Only a few soldiers had arrived- a patrol, then, one that the Professor had sent farther from Fusion than usual. The boy fast pulled another spear from across his back and charged at those that had dodged his heart’s overwhelming attack.

As he watched, an Obelisk Force soldier who had waited out the initial onslaught in the hall raced towards the weaponless girl, sword drawn and ready to strike- but before anyone could do so much as yell out a warning, the girl snapped her fingers and a gale swept him up off his feet. He hit the wall with a snap and a thud, then sunk to the ground and did not get up again.

“There are more,” said Yuuto, and nudged Shun, who had stilled watching the fight. They followed Yuuto’s gaze towards a small side hall, where a few figures were slipping between the shadows. The rebels drew their weapons, and the group froze.

Dennis took them in- reds, looking nervous and ill-prepared for a task like stopping the rebel leaders. A flash of irritation ran through him, sure he was being insulted.  _ Why wouldn't they have just sent another patrol of the Obelisk Force? _

"Wait, wait!" Said one of the girls, long hair falling loose around her shoulders. She looked young- too young to be a main course student at Academia, even- but the coat and the authority she seemed to have over the other reds didn't lie. She held up her hands, took a brave step forwards.

Shun stayed ready to strike, hands steady in their grip, but even his eyes faltered at being faced with a girl so young. "Has Academia resorted to using child soldiers already?"

The girl gave a little half-laugh, remarkable for someone clearly pretending to be brave for the sake of those behind her. "What, like you're not children, too?" She shook her head. "That's not important. We don't want to fight for Academia. We were ordered along here to watch the Obelisk Force work, but, well. We're not going back."

"Give us one reason to trust you," Shun demanded.

The girl stared him straight in the eyes. "Because you caught us trying to run away."

For a moment they matched each other's gazes, suspended in a battle of wills as the sounds of conflict echoed out in the cavern around them.  _ So, _ Dennis thought, thinking of Asuka in the days of Sakaki's Rebellion,  _ students still find ways to make it out safely. _

"Let them go," said Ruri, and Shun stepped back, lowered his sword. Not off his guard entirely, but enough to clearly acquiesce. The girl let out a long breath, and some of the tension drained from her shoulders, her spine. 

"Thank you," she said, and ushered the children behind her off with a wave of her hand. She did not turn her back on the rebels until the last of her friends, the single boy in a yellow coat, tapped her on the shoulder.

"Thank you," she said again, nodding her head slightly, then turned and ran out from the room. They didn't have time to watch her go. Yuuto had just enough time to shout a brief- "brace yourselves!" before a great wind was upon them, sending them stumbling back a few steps as Rin dismounted her heart with a graceful leap. Shun nearly stumbled, but when Dennis offered him a shoulder, Shun shrug it off with a glare.

"So," said Rin, stalking towards them with a dangerous gleam to her eyes, "you know who I am. But I never got the chance to ask in kind. Who are you? Answer truthfully, or I won't hesitate." She lifted one of her arms, palm extended towards them. At her feet, the dust began to dance, agitated by the hints of a whirlwind.

"We're the Rebels of Heart," said Ruri, stepping forwards to meet her. "Kurosaki Ruri and Shun. Yuuto. Dennis Macfield. The leaders of the Xyz rebellion, and the heroes of the prophecy."

"Really? Because it looks to me like you just let some of Academia's soldiers go."

Ruri met her evenly, without raising her voice, without useless posturing. Her determination alone carried her sincerity. "There were just children. I won't kill those who only wish to flee from a battle they want no part in."

"Wouldn't that be nice, if we could do that all the time."

Rin looked them over, calculated, judging. Her eyes were not void of emotion, but rather keeping it carefully barred until she could take stock of the situation and make a clear judgment. It was an expression Dennis was intimately familiar with. Finally, Rin let out a breath, lowered her hand to her side. She called, "Yuugo."

The boy next to her pulled back his heart, and the white flakes danced about them like snow. Rin's vanished similarly. Yuugo said, waving a little awkwardly, "Sorry for being so rude before we even met, yeah? It's just that we have some stuff we have to do, no matter what."

"We can understand that," Yuuto said. A brief flash of tension- no one in the room missed that their goals overlapped unmistakably. The chances that they would both get what they wanted, Dennis thought, looking the newcomers over again, were low. It was exactly the kind of chance he had been waiting for. And yet he could sense the mood in the air, the uneasy shifting of hearts as they shook off their bruises and took back to their usual forms.

“Do you mind if we talk for a second?” Dennis asked, pulling Shun and Yuuto back with him before Rin and Yuugo could properly respond. Still, she let them do it with a curt nod, taking a few steps back and speaking to Yuugo in hushed tones. Dennis followed suit.

“We need to keep them on our side. I don’t think they’ll try and sabotage the actual Rebellion,” he hissed, though he was met with more than a few impassive faces.

"Still," said Shun, "I don't know how much I trust them."

"I don't think that they're enemies," Ruri replied, and Shun looked down at her with narrowed eyes.

"She can take a blessing, just the same as you can. That doesn't make you even a little uneasy? We can’t trust them." Ruri glanced away at Shun's words.

"We'll treat them as tentative allies," said Dennis, and the entire group glanced at him with some mixture of surprise and anger.

"Why?" Shun asked, more demand than question.

_ Because I can use them _ , thought Dennis. Aloud he said- "They're strong, and they might be willing to accompany us. Imagine what kind of strength we'll gain if they agree to help us fight. As long as Ruri gets the blessings before them, then there won't be a problem."

"Unless they turn against us," Shun muttered, but Ruri shook her head.

"I don't think they'll do that." Shun shot her another withering look, and she added, "I know I don't have any proof. But I don't think that they're bad people. They're just like all of us. That's what my instincts… My dreams are telling me, and I want to trust them."

"Let's keep them at the edge of camp," Dennis suggested, and was met with nods as he continued, "Away from any decisions. If they want to go a separate way from us, we let them. But otherwise, we should try and keep them close. I’m sure they’re thinking the same thing we are."

"Right," Yuuto agreed, "If they beat us to a blessing, then..."

None of them were willing to finish the thought, echoes of the prophecy ringing in their ears. 

“I don’t agree with this,” said Shun, and turned that glare on Dennis. “This could actively put Ruri’s life in danger. You can’t-”

“And fighting doesn’t?” Ruri interrupted Shun with a hard set to her eyes- so much like Shun’s own expression that for a moment it took Dennis aback. “So you’re going to start holding me back from fighting? From making decisions for myself?”

“That’s not what I said,” Shun hissed, “And that’s not the same thing. You’re just asking to get stabbed in the back by trusting people you’ve known for ten minutes.”

“He’s not wrong,” Dennis said, breaking into the siblings’ argument. They turned to him, caught off-guard by his seeming change of heart. “It’s not hard to imagine they’ll end up betraying us once we get close to the next blessing.  If we’re not prepared to accept that, then Shun’s right. We shouldn’t let them get any closer.”

“So we back off,” Yuuto summarized. Dennis glanced over at Rin and Yuugo, the two waiting with crossed arms and patience wearing thin for their decision. 

“No,” said Ruri, “if we let them go now, then it’s mistake. We won’t be able to beat their travel speed, so all we can do is tie them down to us, right? I want to do this.”

“Do what you want,” said Shun, though it was clear he still would rather fight them then and there, if he could.

When they laid down the terms of the proposition, the two newcomers were surprisingly agreeable.

“We’re also heading into Fusion,” said Rin, “but it was easier to go around than try and chance the mountains. We’re meeting someone there.”

“Not Academia,” Yuugo chimed in, and Rin echoed the sentiment.

“Right, not Academia. We have one town we want to visit once we get into Academia’s territory. If you don’t want to go there, then we part ways. We agree not to meddle unless asked for our opinions, though we’ll help with anything you need done in camp in exchange for food. But we won’t put ourselves in danger for a cause that isn’t ours. We’ll pay our own way through and compensate you accordingly for anything we take-“ Rin held up a coin purse stuffed full of gold coin, and Dennis didn’t think he’d ever quite seen the rebel’s eyes so blatantly wide- “Are the terms on our side acceptable?”

Ruri dragged her gaze away from the coins as Rin snapped the purse shut. “More than acceptable.”

She held out a hand; Rin took it and shook it firmly. Rin said, the harshness to her evening out, somewhat- “I’m glad to be travelling with you.”

“Yes,” Ruri replied, “us too.”

Something significant passed between the two girls. Dennis exchanged a raised eyebrow with Shun, whose eye he caught only reluctantly. Why they seemed so willing to trust the very person they should most see as a threat was beyond either of them, Dennis thought, not without a hint of irony that had the squirrel heart at his feet chattering glibly. That skill would have saved him immeasurable amounts of trouble, over the years.

Getting out of the catacombs was a minor ordeal- understandably, neither of the parties intended to leave their backs open for long, and so they settled on Rin leading the way out, the rebels two by two behind her, with Yuugo taking the back. The passageway that the students they had let free took was somewhat of a shortcut, and they found themselves back in the chapel much sooner than it had taken them to descend.

“We’ll show you back to our camp,” Yuuto explained as they stepped out the doors- but his words were drowned out by the sound of a shot, loud and ringing in their ears. Everything slowed to a crawl as everyone moved at once- Yuuto’s heart flickered before him into the grand form of the Knight, armor flashing silver as it materialized before him. Rin threw out her hand and the wind whipped around them, knocking the crowd that had assembled before the chapel off their feet in a single moment- Shun leapt fast to cover Ruri, while Yuugo dashed forwards, his heart soaring out above the gathered crowd with a roar as Dennis dropped to the ground, trying to avoid the shot as it ricocheted off the armor of Yuuto’s heart-

And time sped fast back into reality as the bullet lodged itself into the chapel wall and the mayor’s second shot flew harmlessly into the air, caught by Rin’s wind and dropped to the ground at her feet.

The people cowered before the dragon as it roared, the sound louder and low as the rolling thunder piercing through their eardrums. Rin yelled in the aftermath- “Enough! We are not Academia.”

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” said the mayor, picking himself up slow back to his feet- “Just get out. We told you to leave before you brought trouble. My town isn’t ending up the same as every other you’ve ever visited. Now out!”

“Let’s go,” Yuuto said, his heart fading back into a sheepdog and pulling Shun and, by extension, Ruri, away. Dennis and Yuugo followed behind, with Rin hesitating just a moment more, hand outstretched and that wild magic about her before turning to leave, confident that after her display they would be left alone. Yuugo’s heart still flew circles above them until the moment they returned to camp.

The rest of the rebels, understandably, didn’t react well to a strange dragon that  _ didn’t _ belong to their presumed dragonheart settling down beside them. Ruri barely refrained from grimacing at the clamor that Sayaka was so desperately trying to settle down. Dennis caught her eye, inclined his head towards the rapidly swelling crowd- a wordless  _ do you want me to handle it? _

Ruri nodded, relief clear in the way tension slipped from the scrunched-up lines of her face. She called Sayaka from the front of the crowd, presumably whispering apologies for leaving her alone so suddenly, then ushered Rin and Yuugo along with her. Dennis waved Yuuto and Shun along behind her- crowds were his expertise. It was a game of improv to stand before them, to speak of Rin and Yuugo as new travelling companions, to pacify their fears of the dragon whose scales caught the light- so unlike Yuuri’s, really, that he couldn’t help but wonder how those who had witnessed it could possibly mistake the venom dragon for another- to calm them, return them to their places, to their watches. Dennis watched with satisfaction as the last of them dispersed, then wandered off to find what edge of camp Ruri had made for the newcomers.

They weren’t hard to find, clustered together on the far end of the supply carts from where the leaders pitched their tents. Rin and Yuugo were settled down with leftover food from the morning and set off to the side under Sayaka’s watch while the rebels pondered their next move, sitting around a map splayed out over a tree stump.

"Which way do we take to get into Fusion?" Ruri asked as Dennis settled down opposite her.

"There really aren't many options," said Yuuto, staring down at the map. Swamps, lakes, and marshlands made up most of the adjacent territory, inhospitable and largely left abandoned for the lusher lands of central Fusion or the eastern territory that neighbored Standard. He pointed down at one town, a large dot on the map. "There's either this castle, here, or-" Yuuto slid his finger down the map slightly to a much smaller dot- "or this little town. No one has much information on it, but seems like it's a village of artisans and metalworkers and the like."

"And probably much less likely to be armed," said Ruri, and that, more than anything, made their decision for them. Yuuto folded up the old map, tucked it away with the rest of their supplies. He handed them off to Ruri, who started back towards her own tent to stow them away. Dennis, having arrived to late to try and have any say in the matter, stood again, thinking to try and get information out of the newcomers. Instead Yuuto caught his wrist. “Could you talk to Shun?”

Dennis looked around, trying to follow Yuuto’s gaze- and sure enough, there was Shun, sitting on the back lip of one of the supply carts, his heart perched above, gaze locked on Rin and Yuugo. Yuuto continued- “I tried to talk to him earlier, but… Listen, he’s pretty mad.”

_ At you _ didn’t need to be spoken. Dennis supposed he should have thought that one out a bit better before he’d spoken. He said, “I’ll talk to him.”

“Thanks,” Yuuto said, then started off towards Sayaka, who seemed to be scribbling down furious mental notes as she spoke to their two guests.

Dennis stood in his spot for a while, considering his options a bit better this time. HIs heart sat patiently at his side, tail twitching slowly in matching thought. It wouldn’t do to start having Shun distrust him now- undoing months of work would be his greatest blunder, after all- but neither was he willing to cast away the entirety of his pride.  _ Fine, _ he thought,  _ half-truths rather than half-lies. _

He approached Shun slowly, with a disarming smile that quickly turned awkward under the force of Shun’s glare. He was fiddling with a scrap of something in his hands, but the moment Dennis came within viewing distance he shoved it into his pocket. “What do you want?”

_ Might as well go for it _ , thought Dennis. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Sun had clearly prepared for a fight. But that wasn’t in Dennis’ interests, not yet. Fighting could be useful to sabotage the stability of a group- especially in the time before a betrayal. But that wouldn’t be for a while yet.

“What, am I speaking in runes? Listen, Shun. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it through before I expected everyone else to agree. It was reckless, and it might mean more danger later on. So if there’s something I can do, then-”

“Duel me.”

Dennis’ turn to be thrown off. “But your ankle is-”

_ Wrapped. Definitely sprained, at the angle you went down at. _

“Fine,” Shun finished. “And don’t throw the match, either. Some staged victory doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Dennis grinned. “I’d never dream of it.” And that, against Shun, at least, was never a lie. He added, unable to resist- “And you couldn’t beat me even if I  _ tried _ to go easy on you.”

Shun snorted- still irritated, but much closer to his usual self. “Yeah? So what was last week, a fluke?”

Dennis’ grin turned a little sharp. “Don’t you remember? Yuuto called that one a draw. Technically inconclusive, due to length.”

“You just don’t want to admit you lost,” Shun said, and Dennis’ heart unsheathed its claws, fur bristling as it leapt up by Shun’s side in challenge. Shun looked down at it with the smirk of someone just proven right.

“Then let’s settle it now.”

Shun burned with the challenge accepted. “Just be prepared to be crushed.” He hopped down from the cart, then called, “Yuuto! Come officiate a duel for us!”

Yuuto, pulled from his conversation with a word of apology, trotted over with heart jogging just ahead of him an amused bounds. He said, shaking his head. “Why is this what constitutes ‘talking’ with you two?”

Dennis and Shun both opened their mouths, words leaping to the forefront, but Yuuto cut them both off with a wave of his hand. “Don’t answer that. Let’s just get this over with.”

* * *

Rin and Yuugo were not difficult people to travel with- Yuugo was a source of boundless conversation, speaking of everything and nothing all at once- topics safe, topics friendly enough to be genuine curiosity. Travelers’ stories were particularly easy to trade, and with each day that passed slowly Dennis could feel their barriers towards each other crumbling. He had caught Rin and Ruri on more than one occasion trading stories about things only to have the other remark over sudden familiarity. In the peaceful days that had followed the catacombs, it had almost begun to feel as if their small group of leaders and chosen had gained two more. Wariness underscored many of their interactions still- any mention of a blessing, for instance, drove deep the rift between them- but their passing interactions while keeping mutual watch over each other, at least, were pleasant enough.

Still, Dennis couldn’t help but wonder- he’d thought that only one Maiden should have been able to receive the blessings. The fact that an anomaly had appeared with the hint of a blessed bracelet on her wrist was something that had him glancing over his shoulder, waiting for Yuuri’s appearance- and yet the days dragged on, too peaceful for a true Resistance. 

It was on an early morning after walking around camp with Yuuto that Dennis took his cards out, practicing a trick he was sure would fool even Shun’s sharp eyes. He was deep into his dozenth attempt when Yuugo found him, looking too-chipper for that early hour. Shun followed behind, looking tired as Dennis felt but still sharp- it was his turn to keep watch over their guests. Dennis blinked up at them, wondering what exactly he’d been waved down for.

“You play?” Yuugo asked, pulling a few worn cards from his pocket and waving them at Dennis, a mess of suits (though mostly white and orange) and illustrations that Dennis had never seen before. He nodded, flashing his magicians at Yuugo, who leaned in close to see.

“Huh,” Yuugo said, “Cool. We should have a match some time.”

Dennis raised an eyebrow. “I assume you play capital rules?”

“Yeah, and we’re the best at it,” Yuugo said, puffing up his chest with the boast, “See Rin and I- oh, Rin!”

Dennis turned- sure enough, Rin was standing at the edge of the plateaued hill where they had made camp, staring down at something beyond their line of sight. She waved them over, oddly stiff; they all complied, quiet and light on their feet.

“Enemies,” Rin said, craning her head towards the approaching figures beyond the hill, and Yuugo pulled his spyglass out to confirm.

“Academia,” Shun snarled, and immediately drew his blade. Only the presence of Rin and Yuugo, Dennis knew, kept him from rushing down immediately. 

"I thought we got all of them back at the cavern!" Yuugo complained. Dennis resisted the urge to correct him as Yuugo passed over the spyglass. These weren't Obelisks, just regular blue students, unmasked and hearts hunting dogs at their sides.

“Well,” Rin said, leaping atop her heart, as it materialized, “we’ll get them now.”

“Wait,” Dennis said, and Rin looked down at him. Her heart stamped impatiently at the ground, denied its flight. “This doesn’t concern you. I’ll call a few more of ours, and-“

“It’s fine. Just consider it like you owe us a favor,” Rin said, and that, at least, was a game that Dennis could play. Rin flew off without another word. Shun exchanged a glance with Dennis, then leapt down behind, heart flying out fast before him. Yuugo’s heart began to glimmer at his side, but Dennis reached out to grab his wrist. Yuugo only barely resisted letting out a full whine at that, doubtless about to say that he could handle himself.

"You should stay back," Dennis warned, "If Academia sees that you have a dragon's heart, then they won't hesitate to come after you."

Yuugo gave him a  _ look _ , so very blatantly telling Dennis exactly what he thought of that. "So all I have to do is make sure It's not a dragon, yeah?"

At his side his heart shrank, the silhouette growing low to the ground and popping to life with a blue-green light. Dennis, admittedly, wasn't sure what he was looking at- something serpentine, perhaps, but made up of distinct sections, glinting and metallic. He could see his own reflection in the sheen. "What is that?"

Yuugo shrugged and flashed him a grin. "I dunno. Something I just came up with!"

“Impressive,” Dennis said, for lack of better words, and Yuugo grinned before leaping forth, serpentine metal following his pace.  _ Strange _ , he thought, not with any malice.

Dennis hung back. It was only a small patrol, an expedition that the Professor liked to send out occasionally to collect soil and plant life from shrines across the patchwork country. He doubted that they'd be a serious challenge, and doubted that there'd be any real blood spilled.

It gave Dennis the chance to seriously examine the newcomers, watching through the lens of the spyglass. Even without his dragon at his side, Yuugo moved fluid and easily with his strange creature. He was good, but his movements were wild, and any sort of instructor would have cringed at his technique- or utter lack thereof. It was Rin that moved carefully, despite that great vessel's power of hers. She was equally quick and mobile, leaping from the back of her heart as it dissolved, neatly dodging an arrow that would have pierced straight through the pegasus' side. A hound leapt at her, and wind jumped at her fingertips, blowing it back into another.  _ Always one step ahead. _

Shun kept his distance from the both of them, but it was clear from the lulls in the conflict when Rin took higher to the skies that she too was keeping an eye on him, ready to sweep that way if his heart of blade were to falter. 

Pause. A flicker of noise from behind him, the quiet sound of shoes crunching over dried grass, drying fast in the autumn heat. Pause. Nothing. Pause. Eyes staring into his back and a soft noise that Dennis couldn’t identify but understood nonetheless- Dennis turned, pulling his blade from his belt the moment before the blade of the enemy swung down upon him.

His opponent leapt backwards, sheathing their sword as they moved, too fast to be a rebel, too precise to be any of Academia’s regular students.

"Hi," waved Grace Tyler, a familiar smile on her face. Dennis looked out at her, startled- there was no one else in the immediate vicinity, the newcomers and Shun still too busy up ahead with the patrol, the camp too far away for anyone to see the details of their conversation- still, Dennis did not lower his sword. The fact that she had gotten this close without any guards noticing them was a problem- he made a mental note to chide whoever had been on guard before realizing that they would likely only be an ally to him, when the time came. “Why are you here?”

Though he had known that the Tyler sisters had been deployed not long after the start of the Rebellion, he had assumed that their paths would never cross, their objectives too different. It was impossible for Dennis to know her purpose here, and it gave her the advantage. She knew it and again drew her blade with a smile. She said, "I challenge you to a duel!" 

Dennis shrugged, shaking his head- too casual, too nonchalant for his thoughts. “And why would I accept? I’m not really up for dueling someone who has no business trying to fight on their own.”

“Harsh words,” Grace said, “but I think you have reason enough.” Her gaze skirted just past him, and he knew that the rebels had seen him, someone from the camp best case scenario standing and watching, worst case gone to find Ruri and the rest. 

“Fine,” he said, and adjusted the grip on his blade, “Make it a challenge.”

“I wouldn’t dare fail to excite,” Grace said, and then Dennis charged, hoping to catch her off-guard with a move he wouldn’t normally make. 

Grace danced away from him and Dennis spun to catch her blow with a parry. When he pushed her back she put her weight behind it and did not stumble. Instead she caught herself and sprang forwards, attacking fast and precise, aiming after each strike for the place hardest to guard with the next. Dennis matched them all with ease before turning one back on her.

"You duel like an entertainer!" Grace laughed, parrying his blow with a wide smile. It had remarkably little malice. 

"So do you," he fired back on the tail end of an exhale, breath coming fast now.

Grace stumbled a bit, a little startled by the compliment. "Really?"

Dennis didn’t answer, instead putting distance between them. Grace met his eyes, lips curled up into a smile of challenge as they both caught their breath. Still. The longer they fought the more apparent it became that Grace was not used to fighting alone.

“Dennis!” Ruri yelled, and Dennis didn’t look back, only watched Grace carefully as she readied herself for the next round. She was running close to the end of her tricks, of that much Dennis was sure.

“Stay back!” he called back, “this is a duel!”

He had scarcely finished speaking when Grace came at him again, slashing at him in a move he knew to be a feint, a cover for when she dropped down and tried to sweep his legs out from under him- Dennis leapt carefully over them and brought his sword down on her while she was standing, but she dropped one knee to the ground and met him with sword held over her head.

“Nice try,” she said, and in the second Dennis took to wonder how she was sparing the time for talk she surged up and threw him off balance for just a moment, enough to knock him to his back on the ground with her next blow. Grace grinned down at him with a victor’s smile and went to hold her sword to his throat- but he let his heart fly, a bluebird darting quick towards Grace’s face, and the moment she startled was the moment that he rolled out of the way. He leapt back onto his feet in time to see a speckled cat with large, rounded ears burst from Grace. It sprang up from the ground, trying to reach his heart with grasping front paws, but it took high to the sky and escaped with a brush of tailfeathers against claws.

He came at her in that second moment of distraction, and though she raised her sword Dennis easily swept it out of her hands, falling to the ground a little ways away. He held the point to her throat. “Match.”

“Ah, so I lost after all,” Grace said, staring down Dennis, with a complicated expression- a little bit of regret for having lost, a little bit of satisfaction, presumably for the challenge of the duel.

“The terms!” Yuuto yelled, on edge, gaze searching the slope of the hill, the bend of the river through the plains below for any sign of more soldiers.

"Oh," said Grace, "we never did set any terms. How about... I'll be your hostage! One of Academia's Lieutenants would make a brilliant bargaining chip."

“And you don’t have any other reasoning for this?” Yuuto asked dryly, skepticism written clear across his face.

Grace smiled over at him, apparently uncaring of the tip of the sword at her throat. “If that was my reason, I would have stated it from the beginning. There’s no point in fighting on terms that haven’t been agreed on.”

_ Then why did you challenge me? _ Dennis did not ask as Yuuto rushed forwards to tie her hands with rope Sayaka had procured. “We’ll have questions for you. Then we’ll make our judgements.”

Grace just laughed, friendly but knowing. Yuuto and Sayaka began to lead her away, skirting the far edge of camp. Her heart bounded alongside her, Yuuto’s dog keeping a wary eye on it. “I’ll be waiting!”

"Well, she's friendly," said Shun, watching her go with a tension stiff in his limbs. Dennis startled- he hadn’t expected Shun to have returned so quickly. 

"I think she's just weird," he said in reply, and Shun's gaze flickered over to him a moment. It was impossible to tell if any of that lingering suspicion was directed at him.

“Yeah, you would know,” he said, and Dennis almost faltered- almost.

Dennis gasps, mock-scandalized. “This is slander against me, Kurosaki. And here I thought you were the only one here I could trust.”

Shun just turned back to him, unimpressed. “Don’t say that,” he said, then, a moment later, “Come on, let’s go catch up. Yuuto’s probably started asking her questions already.”

“What about Rin and Yuugo?” he asked, knowing Shun wouldn’t have let them out of his sight.

“They’ve proved they’re willing to fight Academia,” he said, both answering Dennis’ question completely and not at all. With that he set off, leaving Dennis to follow in his tracks and wonder which part of what he had said, exactly, had bothered Shun so much.

* * *

Yuuto had already started the interrogation- just a short one, in a makeshift tent at the very far edge of camp. Sayaka chased off the curious bystander as Yuuto emerged, looking a bit frazzled by whatever Grace had said to him.  _ Yes _ , Dennis remembered,  _ that’s a fairly typical first reaction to Grace. _

“So,” Ruri said, just as Yuugo called to them with a cheerful yell- barely looking tired after fighting that patrol. The assembled four glanced over at him, various levels of stern glare on their faces.

"Important rebel stuff, got it!" Yuugo called, walking backwards as Rin pulled him back by the arm. "We'll go hang out over, uh, there!"

The rebels watched for a moment, waiting until it seemed they had moved out of immediate earshot, and huddled together to discuss.

"Is she really a lieutenant? She barely looks older than me," said Shun.

Yuuto shook his head. "As far as I can tell, she really is.”

“I talked with Rin and Yuugo a little bit while Yuuto was interrogating Grace,” said Ruri, “The patrol Rin and Yuugo knocked unconscious before all gave her name when we asked for their commander."

"It could be some kind of elaborate ruse," Dennis suggested, wondering what kind of story that they might create.

Ruri hummed. "Maybe. I can't think of a reason that a Lieutenant in Academia's army would be sneaking around our camp by themselves. She wouldn’t give up any useful information?”

Yuuto shook his head, and that bewildered look returned. “No. It was more like she was willing to give too much. She offered to mark all of Academia’s main encampments from here until the border, to give us numbers, weapon details, ranks… They can’t be the truth.”

“She could be defecting,” said Ruri, and it was clear that meeting the red girl and her deserter friends had clearly influenced her.

“If she wanted to do that,” Shun replied, “then there are easier ways than getting yourself captured in a duel.”

_ No, _ thought Dennis,  _ there really aren’t. _

"I'll take a turn," Dennis offered, qualifying quickly with- "I was the one she challenged. Either because she recognized me from my travels or because I was convenient, but either way. One everyone else showed up, her lips got a lot tighter."

"Want some backup?" Shun offered, but Dennis shook his head. 

"I'll be fine. If she pulls a weapon we missed, we know I can beat her. Just give me some time. And bring back breakfast," he added with a smile. Dennis left his heart outside, a hunting dog with triangle ears perked and nose to the air, twitching fast as it took in the scents. Grace sat with hands still tied, though this time in front of her. Her heart was curled tight in her lap, purring quietly with unabashed satisfaction.

"Are you really Academia?" he asked, too loud, too direct. Grace smiled bright up at him and nodded. "And you offered yourself up as a hostage."

Again, Grace nodded- outside the shelter, the gathered rebels started to depart, their footsteps growing fainter.

Dennis leaned down, remembering that aura that Academia had encouraged amongst its students, quietly intimidating and edged with threats of subjugation. "You're being too compliant," said Dennis under his breath.

Grace's lips curled into a slow smile, something a little dark. It looked more like it should belong on her sister than her. "Am I?"

"It doesn't matter to me if they think you're suspicious. If you compromise my job, then we’re out of spies on the inside. I’m the only one Academia sent.”

"And I hear that you've been doing great," Grace said, with that measuredly teasing tone where Dennis couldn't tell if she was being bitingly sarcastic or not. His masks were not often ones of such subtleties; it made it easy to see how Grace and her sister could have risen so easily through the ranks before even officially graduating Academia's programs. “Though I wouldn’t worry about that. I’ll have made a rat out of someone here by the time that I escape.”

She likely wasn’t joking. Though he and the Tyler sisters had never been particularly close at Academia, both in the special class but far from the same tracks, it seemed to him some sort of bet the two would make amongst themselves. He changed the subject, confident by the silence of his heart that no one was left outside. "Why are you here?"

"Well, this isn't really my duty, but... The dragonheart was busy. Heard he had a little-" Grace giggled- "poison ivy problem. I have a message for you. We're going to let the Rebellion through until the gorge. The usual messenger will give you more details eventually, but make sure you suggest that route. We've prepared some surprises! Not mentioned in my earlier little spill, of course."

"We're not doing what we did with Sakaki?" Dennis asked, thoughts racing- the gorge was deep in central Fusion, one of the final passes to gain access to the flat sea plains where the port cities stood. From there, it was only an hours' journey by boat to Academia keep. Even Sakaki's rebellion hadn't been allowed that far before the Professor had made his move. He had thought the intention was to crush the Rebellion at the border. For things to have changed so drastically-

"Oh no," said Grace, "we're doing that, too. Or the dragonheart is, at least. You should have seen his face when the Professor told him not to ruin it this time. Like, like a-" Grace dissolved into giggles again, and Dennis wondered how in the world Grace could find anything Yuuri did humorous- "like a cat thrown into a bath!” 

Dennis tried to imagine Yuuri making a face that far from composed, completely undignified, and failed utterly. Yuuri had never once showed him an expression that Dennis wasn't worried could see straight through him, into those things he kept buried in his chest, hidden just to the right of his heart, where they could never manifest. Except... When they had been children, perhaps. But Dennis had long since come to realize that those smiles, too, had been filled with a ruthless ambition that had seen right past him.

After a moment Grace calmed again, though she still snickered. Her heart, jostled from her lap, stepped off to her side and began to wash its face with dainty paw. "It's just that this Rebellion is causing us a few more problems than the Professor wants to know about. Do you know how many cities Gloria and I have had to destroy so far, because the citizens think some faraway Rebellion means they can do whatever they please? Attack tax collector's houses, ambush Fusion merchant caravans, assemble with arms... Standard's getting restless, too. And here we were, ready to move into Synchro... Ah well."

Grace shrugged. Her heart stared sidelong at him with barely-opened eyes. "And there was one more message for you. The rogue element is on the move again. We don't know why, but it seems like you'll be on a collision course. If it is for a blessing, you mustn't let either them nor the rebels obtain it. Understand?"

Dennis nodded, and Grace seemed satisfied, returning it with a small one of her own. "Great. Tell them I was  _ very _ cooperative, and that there's an Academia camp set up two towns ahead, so it would be best to detour the next time the road branches off.” 

Dennis turned to leave, then paused. He looked back to her and asked- "If you were just here to deliver a message, why did you challenge me to a duel?"

"I couldn't resist the thought of dueling one of Sakaki Yusho's students," she said. "After all... you  _ are _ the only one left."

He couldn’t deny it; the look on Grace’s face spoke volumes of just how much she knew it was true. There was just the hint of a vague sadness about it, a softness near her eyes like a regret not quite fully formed. 

“I’ll bring you a file to cut your ropes with along with dinner tonight,” Dennis promised, and Grace giggled for a reason Dennis couldn’t comprehend.

“Thank you! It was nice talking!” she called after his back, waving him off with bound hands. 

The second Maiden, calling herself the Tempest Witch. The rogue element. Yuuri’s inexplicable absence. Grace Tyler, alone. Dennis emerged from the tent, heart shifting down into a bright ginger cat as he tapped it on the head absently. Ruri was approaching, two plates of food in hand, Sayaka and Shun trailing close behind. Reflex compelled him to smile, but it was cut off as he glanced to the sky, dappled in lazy waves of white. If only, he thought, he could read the red threads that crossed the invisible stars, drowned out by the eternal sun. If only, he thought, his fate hadn’t already been tied up in them.


	14. Interlude G

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dream that lives within a rotted world.  
> (A long story indeed.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 雨が降ったら　きっと　頬を濡らしてしまう  
> 枯れてしまった　色ですら　愛しくなるのに  
> 目を瞑ったら　もっと　遠く霞んでしまう  
> 煩くなった雨の音　笑い飛ばしてくれ！
> 
> When the rain falls, it will wet my cheeks for sure.  
> Even the withered colors, I still find them so dear,  
> yet if I were to shut my eyes, they’d end up growing hazy far, farther away.  
> The sound of the rain has become so noisy. Just laugh it away for me!  
> \- Rain and Petra/雨とペトラ (Balloon/バルーン)

It was in the lost hours before twilight that Rin realized that she couldn’t find Yuugo. She had settled down a moment beside Yuugo on the banks of the pond the rebels had decided to rest at, closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the fall sun through the fabric of her jacket, and then…

Rin blinked the last of the sleep from her eyes. She must have taken a nap, obviously. But that didn’t explain where Yuugo had gone. Or, for that matter, Dennis, who was supposed to be watching them. But suddenly Rin heard the sounds of clinking machinery moving, followed by the sound of swirling water- not from the pond from before her, but clearly from behind.

Rin pushed herself from the ground and stood, voice giving form to the conflict- “Man, why are your cards all so _cool_?”

Yuugo stood staring down at his cards, his tri-eyed dice heart hovering in the air beside him. Across from him Dennis had already drawn, a water sprite struggling to hold its form seeming to dance in the grass beside him. A small crowd- Ruri, Yuuto, Shun, and Sayaka- had gathered on the other side of them, watching in rapt attention as Yuugo shuffled through his hand. Ruri waved at Rin with a smile, both of which Rin returned.

“Ahhh, forget it!” Yuugo yelled, then snapped his hand shut. “Lemme show you the kind of stuff I can come up with!” Yuugo stared hard at his heart, and its form began to grow more complex, plated and gilded with raised accents between them- The hint of ears, of a mane, of two long legs, and Rin held her breath, knowing what Yuugo was trying to emulate.

The heart stopped shifting. At Yuugo’s side floated half a mechanical horse, legs like sticks not quite attached to the main body and mane stuck out at strange angles in the back. Yuugo blinked at it, considering, then- “Ah well, whatever. Good enough.”

Rin laughed. Across the field Ruri and Sayaka applauded, the former’s heart chirping in delight as it hopped among the grass, shifting from grey dove to bright yellow canary. She and Sayaka cheered in unison, “Amazing!”

Yuugo laughed, grin wide across his face. He rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed to soak up the praise, even after all this time. He turned to Rin. “Not quite the same, huh?”

Rin rolled her eyes. “You missed a few things.”

Everyone laughed at that, and Yuugo patted his mechanical half-horse on the shoulder. He muttered, quite loudly, “Well, _I_ like you.”

After a moment to settle down, Dennis’ heart running out of energy and flopping to his side a fat white rabbit, Ruri ventured, “Hey… Can you teach me how to do that?”

“Uhh,” said Yuugo, crossing his arms, “yeah. It’s kinda… Hold on.” Yuugo pulled his cards back out, pulling a random one. He took it in a moment, and beside him his heart shifted into a butterfly with dot-paneled wings. “You kind of have to look at it, then kinda imagine you as that? And then it’s there, kinda? Or you just get that image in your heart sometimes, right? So you just have to imagine that.”

“Um,” replied Ruri, glancing between Yuugo and his heart. Meanwhile, Yuugo frowned, trying to get some sense of how to better explain. On the ground, Shun and Yuuto’s hearts started to ruffle their feathers and pace the ground behind them, restless with the desire to shift.

“Like this,” Dennis said, stepping towards them. He scooped up his heart, cradling it a fluff of white fur in one arm. With his free hand he snapped, and a card appeared- a mirror draped in fine cloth and decorated with symbols of the moon.  He hadn’t so much as glanced at it when his heart shifted to match. Sayaka applauded quiet and quick as he brought the mirror up to them. “Focus on the image that feels most natural to you. Even when the card is someone else’s design, find ways to make it yours. Find pieces of yourself in it.”

Rin wandered over, wanting to see what exactly they seated four seemed to understand. Dennis showed her obligingly, and Rin could see- the original card had star designs, not moons. His own little touch, thought Rin, so used to copy upon identical copy, _clever_.

Ruri climbed to her feet. “Okay. So. My heart likes small birds. So if I want to go bigger, feathered wings for sure. I guess that’s why I wasn’t having much luck before.”

Her heart flew to rest atop her finger. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes. Beside her Shun and Yuuto did the same. Only Sayaka watched, nearly unblinking behind her glasses. WIth radiance Ruri’s heart began to glow, taking on the shape of feathers- first one, then another, then a wing- but then it fell back into a small blackbird again, leaving Ruri shaky for breath when she opened her eyes. She opened her eyes with a little laugh. “Whoops. I guess I wasn’t quite ready for that.”

In the skies above, Shun’s heart began to circle, jumping from owl to falcon to eagle and back again, each one larger than the last, a little more imposing, a little more fierce. Yuuto’s heart teased at the edges of humanoid, and Rin could see the sun glint off the hint of armor when she tilted her head for a better view, but after a moment, it was lost with Yuuto’s exhale.

“Hey,” Rin said, “it’s fine. Hearts are finicky. I’ve been trying since I was seven, but all I have is this pegasus of mine.” It trotted into existence at her side with sparks like a screen of feathers. “And then you have people like Yuugo, who can think of something on the fly and heave their heart execute it perfectly. If you told me when we were kids that he’d eventually end up with a dragon, on top of everything else...”

“You’re being way too nice,” Yuugo said, too used to her nagging about proper strategy in their game.

“I compliment you all the time, you dork. You’re just not listening,” she said in reply before turning back to Ruri. “But I think what Dennis said was right. Once you find a form that’s _you_ , I don’t think you have to worry so much about what else your heart can or can’t do. I don’t think it would matter if I could use more forms than this, as long as I _had_ this one.”

“A shape that’s really _me,_ huh?” Ruri said. Sayaka echoed it quietly, and Dennis knelt down at her side, muttering something quiet. Rin thought it was probably encouragement. She could guess why- that girl was the only one of them who’d never shown her heart, not even for an instant. The sparks spilling out between her fingers were red as blood.

“I’m sure you have one,” said Rin, lowering her voice, “Maybe there’s a hint in your dreams, somewhere?”

The two girls exchanged a knowing look. “Yeah,” said Ruri, “‘I think there is.”

* * *

They gathered around the evening fire, crackling pleasantly warm in the cool twilight. It had become somewhat of a tradition, ever since Ruri had convinced them all it was all right, coaxing each side into a tentative but genuine friendship.

Rin leaned back against her Pegasus, watching Yuugo try and teach Yuuto and Shun the card game that he and Rin had been playing a moment before in a way that was more bluster and energetic gestures than actual teaching. Not _the_ game- just _a_ game, one they had created in the days of their childhood and never managed to let go of, even once they learned the real rules. Caught up in the atmosphere, Rin hummed a familiar melody. A little ways down the fire, Ruri couldn't help but join in with the words.

"Oh," said Rin, startled from her humming, "you know the song?"

Ruri nodded. She let the last few words drop soft and sweet- _now the only one you have is you_ \- then replied, "I do! But I don't know where I heard it. Do you know where it's from?"

"I was hoping that you knew." _I thought I heard it in one of your dreams_ , she tried to convey with her tone.

Ruri shrugged subtly, just a shift of her shoulders, then turned to the girl sitting on her other side. “Sayaka, do you know?”

Sayaka listened a while, Rin humming a little louder, then shook her head. “No, sorry. I’ve never heard it before. Is it something from the city?”

“Maybe,” Rin said, knowing it to be a lie.

“Actually,” said Ruri, “why did you decide to travel all the way from the capital?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Rin replied, glancing down at the sun frozen on the horizon. Not one she intended to keep a secret, just… long. Brevity of wit, the conciseness of her battles and plans were a thing she prided herself on.

“We have the time,” said Ruri, “and I promise I’ll pay attention.”

“I guess…” Rin hummed, then nodded. “Okay. Let me tell you a little bit about home first.”

* * *

The city slums were dirty and forgotten, lonely places that liked to take good people and shake them down to their bones, rattle them through and leave only what was tough enough to survive. Rats scurried constant through the gutters, searching for the bodies of criminals dumped discreet down below by the Security that didn't care for them either way. Gangs ruled the good streets, bandannas looped around their arms like badges of loyalty, and the dregs took over the bad ones, trash-filled and disease-ridden. They were dirty and dark and filled to the brim with all the people who had gotten left behind, thrown there and forgotten, abandoned to rot in the sweltering nights.

Rin loved them so very much.

The darkness had always crept about them, so long as Rin and Yuugo could remember. But though they pointed up to the city glimmering bright and beautiful up by the sea, and daydreamed of flying there up on the backs of their hearts, still so much bigger than them, the satellite was their home. Though they'd never say it aloud, those were _their_ streets that they roamed, _their_ hiding places and _their_ little conquests, things built of childish hands and timeless aspirations.

“Did you hear?” Rin whispered, and Yuugo shook his head. “They say that the new challengers came to the city today! And you know what that means!”

“A show!” Yuugo finished. His grin split his face. It wasn't hard to sneak through the back alleys towards the near shore, where the disused warehouses turned homes gave way to the metal shore and scrapped, toppled water towers.

Hand in hand they snuck through, dodging the teenagers who burned fires at the water's edge, laughing into the night with alcohol pinched from under Security's nose. Their destination was the old factory that had once been the pride of satellite, its chimneys extending high into the sky from the gently sloping roof. Tucked neat against its side were a set of scrap metal boxes, piled up haphazard to the metal ladder bolted to the side of the building.

Together they climbed to the very top and settled side by side between two of the chimneys, staring out at the far shore. The city lights were distant and sparkled like the unreachable stars in the night sky, just as numerous and just as fun to trace constellations through.

“I think that it's about to start," said Rin, pointing out at the great convex dome breaking the skyline. Yuugo pulled a small spyglass from a pouch tucked behind one of the chimneys and pressed it to his eye, squinting as he pointed it towards the arena.

"I can see the parade!" He said, delighted, and Rin leaned over, reaching out expectant for the spyglass.

"Let me see! Let me see!"

"Hold on!" Yuugo said, and made no move to hand it over.

"Yuugo, come on!" Rin protested, shuffling slightly down the roof so she could put her hand in front of it. At Yuugo's splutter of protest, Rin shuffled back up and crossed her arms. "Fine. But at least tell me about them."

"Uh... A pretty girl with roses all over. A girl with a pixie heart, or something. She looks kinda scared... A guy and a girl with horses... oh, now they're these giant cat things! Different ones, though. One's got a ton of yellow fur around its neck and the other one is all black. They have these cool machines following them. Like, soldiers? But all hollowed and made of gears. And a weird old man... woah, is his _heart_ a machine? That's so cool!"

Rin let the faraway twinkle of the city lights guide her imagination as Yuugo continued on and on. She could see them so clearly- the three men in extravagant furs and frozen cold hearts, the crowd of spectators pushed close to see them, the woman in white with the airs of a noble and the heart of a living flower- and on and on until the last bit of the parade had entered the stadium and Yuugo had set down the spyglass with a wistful sigh.

“That’ll be us soon,” Yuugo replied, and Rin nodded. Knowing they'd see nothing more for the night, she tucked the pouch away in its hiding place and, Yuugo at her side, started back for home.

They crept through the streets to the sound of machines cranking away rusty and groaning in the distance, keeping their steps light and closing the door behind them with barely a sound. They began to tiptoe towards their rooms, stepping over the floorboards they knew didn't fit quite right and made an awful loud noise-

"And where exactly were you two kids?"

Rin and Yuugo flinched at the voice, looking away sheepish from the woman standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Yuugo said, after a moment- "Hi, Miss Martha."

"Come on, that's not an answer. Where were you two?" She asked, as if the answer ever changed.

"It was the start of the tournament," Rin said, refusing to sound _too_ apologetic, "so we went to go see the parade."

Martha sighed, hands on her hips. Her disappointed look fell from her face, replaced by what Rin knew only as a kind exasperation. Kindness was as much a weakness as it was a virtue, though that never much seemed to stop anyone around them. “You get the chance,” Martha said, “you go to that city and make yourselves stars. Understand?”

They nodded eagerly, added encouragement to fuels their dreams and reached out to the city that sparkled like the sun overhead.

"Hey, you're back!" A bright voice. A moment later, its owner's head popped around the corner from the hallway to the living quarters, a shock of unruly orange hair pushed back with a dark headband. Crow waved a few cards in their direction. "Shinji and I found a few new ones we can practice your reading with-"

Rin and Yuugo ran over to him, reaching fast for the cards, and Crow jerked them up over his head. "-Tomorrow morning. Get some sleep, kiddos."

"We're not tired," Yuugo protested, which was undermined immediately by a huge yawn from Rin that she tried and failed to stifle by forcing her mouth closed. Crow chuckled, and Yuugo said, pouting- "Well, _I'm_ not tired."

"Go on to sleep. Food will be waiting when you wake up," said Martha.

Rin and Yuugo stuck out their tongues at Crow, but relented and let Martha shuffle them off to bed.

They practiced their reading with the cards that Crow and Shinji scrounged up for them, slowly but surely deciphering the old rulebook that they had found years earlier. It was the game that was played in the capital, a game of cards and hearts, the entertainment of nobles and kings. The game that the world flocked to play, and that the greatest champions competed over at the end of every year in the great stadium, proving their worth to the King.

They practiced their writing with characters scrawled in charcoal and chalk scraps across discarded flyers and ashen brick walls, tracing the words of the prophecy that they had memorized so long ago-

_Two pillars of light draw hope through the night,_

_Brought close through their sorrows,_

_Adorned with strength for their fight._

 

_With cards in hand their pride they defend,_

_Magic learned slowly-_

_Tribute to a legacy they must send._

 

_Champions to heros, adored in their prime_

_But yet, it lurks-_

_powers forgotten with time_

 

_From heartfelt support the destroyer rises_

_Against the rot embraced_

_Ambition and wit the new star prizes_

_And so upon that gentle heart_

_The burdens tearing it apart-_

_Chased by the destroyer-_

_But yet a moment too late._

 

_The sun and the moon, mirrors shine-_

_The remainder cries out-_

_“Why couldn’t it have been mine?”_

 

_Though eternal will beat that once-pure heart_

_the harbinger of world of eternal light-_

_Shall die by the moon._

 

They were wandering home late one night, their hands stained with chalk dust and charcoal, clinging close to the walls, trying not to show their fear at the sound of a fight broken out just the street over. Hearts shrieked and growled as machinery groaned, and the two exchanged nervous glances every minute, unable to escape the sounds.

It was why they didn't notice the two men staggering out from the alley until one was quite literally pushed at their feet.

“’C’mon, fork over whatever you got,” spit the standing man, and Rin had lurched back at the sight, dragging Yuugo with her into the shadows. The man had already seen them- but it gave her the time to process, to try and understand-

“What is it?” Yuugo had asked, pressed close to her side, and Rin had shaken her head, pressed her hands close over her chest to feel the rise and fall of her careful breathing.

“His heart,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, “What’s wrong with his heart?”

Yuugo glanced around, but soon shook his head. And though he couldn’t, Rin _could_ see it, the heart pulsing black as the tar and dripping with it- like it was melting, straight out of his chest and over his ribs. An ooze like liquid coal, as dirty as it too.

The man with the dark heart stepped on the other's chest. The prone man let out a horrid wheeze.

“Get back.”

Rin stepped forwards, pulling from Yuugo's grip. She stared at the man on the ground, at the cracks on the pavement- The man sneered, ducked down to try and catch a glimpse at Rin’s lowered face. “Huh? And what’s a little girlie like you gonna do about it?”

He reached out a hand to tip Rin’s chin up with a finger, slow, daring her to move. She could smell something on his breath, different than the stale stench of alcohol- the rot of a corpse, rancid and pungent and making Rin want to gag with every shallow breath. Like this, she could see the rot of his heart. "I ain't got no business with little kiddies, usually, but you two look like you got some money-"

Rin snapped her head up. “I said,” and her voice came out low and steady, “to get _back_.”

Wind blew harsh through the alley, sending trash fluttering down and away. Rin lifted her head, stared at the man with eyes glowing molten amber. He stumbled back a step, thrown off-balance by the gust- but it wasn’t enough. Around her the wind picked up speed, whipped fierce against the stone walls with a scream of its own- _back_ , it said, _back_.

The man doubled over, taking one step back, then another. With him went the stench, the blackness, the echoes of his greed-filled heart-

“Rin?” came the whisper, riding low beneath the howl, and the wind ceased as Rin turned abruptly, her hair finally fluttering at the motion of it.

“I-“ Rin stared at Yuugo, her wide eyes meeting his. She glanced back at the man, slumped on the ground. “I-“

“Rin,” said Yuugo, and her gaze snapped back to his. It stayed there, frozen, as she waited for his judgment. ”You saved us.”

Rin glanced down at her hands, and Yuugo clasped them between his. He said, bright- "Thanks. But man, I'm never gonna do something as cool as that."

"Yeah, well, you have to be able to beat me in a duel before you can be as cool as me." Rin gently pulled her hands from Yuugo's, then skipped lightly off a few steps. _Cool. It was cool._ Rin thought those words like a mantra that blocked out the images of a man falling to ruin, interrupted only for the sound of Yuugo’s voice.

"Hey!"

Rin laughed, breaking into a run as Yuugo attempted to catch up- and, like that, they ran home, leaving the fading sounds of the scuffle, of the trash blown by the wind behind them.

* * *

It had happened slow. Rin would see one or two a year, hearts that had turned black as coal. The worst of them, usually- the men and woman who had been sent to the satellite as criminals and had continued to live as such. The scum of the scum, Security called them when they could be bothered to deal with them. Getting what was coming to them.

Their hearts would start to rot out of their bodies, melting and bleeding black tar. Their actions would turn erratic- violent, in some, obsessive in others. They’d be dead not a week later, bodies founded dropped in back alleys and burned quick into smoke and ash. Another problem solved. Another breath of relief. No one could understand the reason, and no one seemed to care- because no one could see, Rin knew- no one but her.

"They're not the kind of people you can go around helping," said Martha when Rin confided in her one night- whether she believed Rin's story was another matter entirely, but she could tell the advice was given in honesty. Her eyes had been too sad, that day, the story that preceded it too personal. "If their hearts are rotting because of the prophecy... It's not because they're good."

That night Rin had nodded, thinking of the man she had met that very first night, when she had called spurred by horror and the wind had answered. If it had not, she thought, she and Yuugo would never have made it home.

(But if it was truly the prophecy, Rin thought, then it was her duty to help them regardless.)

* * *

“But what else can you do with it?” asked Yuugo, a constant litany, whispered in the quiet places touched by night.

The leaves skittering down the street, blown from the single, dying tree at the center of the island to the alleys were ripped to shreds against the force of her gale. The quiet breeze she summoned up to bring relief from the summer sun baking them into the pavement whipped up a great storm whose gray clouds hung low over the sky and whose thunder rattled the windowpanes, water leaking in through the cracks.

"Can't you make it any weaker?" yelled Yuugo over the howling of her accidental gale. Rin lowered her hands slowly, and the winds ceased, tapering back down into the heavy humid air of the satellite summer.

"Sorry."

Yuugo grinned, ducked his shoulders apologetically and scratched nervous at the back of his head. "Nah, it's not your fault. I'm the one who asked you to try."

But still, in the times when Rin found herself alone in the quiet streets, in the empty storage houses, she called up the wind, demanded that it obey her. It rarely listened- but when it did, when it lifted her easy though the air like a bird without wings, when it struck only the broken glass she had set in the middle of the form and nothing else- those times, an energy raced through her like nothing else, a feeling sweet and warm that lifted her stomach and heart and filled her lungs with something fresh as the taste of Crow's fruit, stolen right out from under Security's noses.

It wasn't often. But, Rin figured, she'd learn. It was what the prophecy had ordained.

(Save them, save them. She needs to-)

* * *

It was a lazy afternoon-turned-early evening that saw Rin and Yuugo walking down the scrapmetal beach, looking for any trash cast away from the city that would fetch a pretty penny for cards at the scavenger's market in the back alleys they weren't supposed to know about.

They turned the corner past their usual spot, descending carefully into the lowest part of the beach where rusted pipes and broken scraps of wood stuck up at random from the remnant of island earth that the satellite had been built on.

Rin blinked, looking out at the curved beach, frozen on the downwards slope.

"Rin!" Yuugo whined from behind her, perched atop a boulder, "Come on! Hurry up!"

But Rin wasn't listening, struck by what she had seen. She itched to burst into a run, but the shattered glass across the earth simply wouldn't allow it. Still, she picked her way careful across the beach with too much haste as Yuugo yelled after her, stepping careful in her footsteps.

After a while of this, he went suddenly silent- so he too, had finally seen it. It only took a few meters more- and then they were there, standing beside the battered wooden raft ground up against the brick part of the shore. Two oars sat atop it, tied tight to the fallen mast with thick rope.

"We can use this," said Rin, pointing across the bay, "We can go across!"

"We can do it!" Yuugo echoed, jumping atop the raft and over the fallen mast missing a sail. Rin leapt up and joined him, shielding her eyes against the sun and looking out at the city. Over the years it had seemed so close and so far in turns- but never, Rin thought, as close as it had seemed in that moment.

* * *

It was foolish.

But that night they dressed in their nicest clothes and armed themselves with cards and took their scrapwood sailboat across the channel to land on the shores of the capital city under the light of the full moon.

Rin gaped unabashedly open-mouthed at the buildings- so many made of white stone, sparkling under the moonlight like all the dreams she'd ever had. They tied their boat to the docks and slept fitful beneath the pier, only sheer exhaustion lulling them away from their untamable excitement.

Morning, ushered in by the dawn a few hours later found them wandering the city, dashing hand in hand from storefront to restaurant display to art painted on the walls- so deliberate, so different from the patchwork of styles and gang markers lining the streets of Satellite. Men and women walked the streets in strange and elegant fashions in an entire array of colors, clean and pressed in a way that Rin had only ever dreamed of.

They wandered themselves over towards a park, watching a moment, overwhelmed by the greens of the trees and the flowers newly bloomed and the bushes, all different shades of vibrant life. In the center of it all, children were gathered around, their hearts frolicking and shifting into shape after shape- some half-formed before they fell back into their owner's chest, others making it all the way into the new form. In their hands were familiar cards. Rin and Yuugo exchanged a look, then dashed over to join them, pulling their own cards from their pockets.

They rarely let their own hearts slip from them, warned strict by Crow and Martha and Shinji- but in the city, they figured, nothing could hurt them. The danger had all passed, driven away by the glint and gleam of it like the rot of the prophecy. Rin’s heart came out small and graceful as usual, the Pegasus too tall for her to clamber atop -and still not quite an adult that could support her weight anyways- but impressive to the gathered children all the same.

"What other things can it do?" Said one of the boys.

Rin shook her head, fingers tangled in her heart's mane. "Nothing. It's just this."

"You can't make it change?" Said one of the girls, "Boring!" At her side, her heart jumped from a rabbit to a baby griffon mid-leap.

"Yeah, but she can do a ton of other cool stuff!" Said Yuugo, leaping to her defense. He turned to her, clapped a hand to her shoulder in silent but obvious encouragement. Rin took a deep breath, fiddled with her hands.

“Here,” she said, focusing hard on the empty space between them, “like this.”

Between the circled children the air caught and turned, twisting and picking up the dirt and loose blades of grass until the air was practically visible, dark and swirling. Rin grinned, slow and careful as her power danced before her.

"Witch," said one of the bystanders, staring in awe- and Rin rather liked the sound of that. She tested the word on her tongue. _Witch_.

"Hey! Those kids don't belong here!" Someone else yelled, and Rin was suddenly shocked from her daydreaming. The wind stopped, sudden, and the leaves and grass and dirt fluttered and fell to the ground. Yuugo tugged at her hand- a crowd was beginning to form, and unlike the children from before, all the faces before them were adults. None of them were watching with awestruck eyes.

And one of them- the woman who had yelled-

"Yuugo," Rin said, tugging on his sleeve, "Yuugo, there's one of them here. We have to-"

Rin turned and took hold of Yuugo’s hand, and there- there she could remember nothing more. There was no fade to black, no shattered hints of sensation to draw on- simply nothing, a clean cut in what she remembered and what she did not. She woke in her own bed the next morning, Crow staring down at her with his namesake heart perched atop his head, watching her with equal intensity. “Crow?”

Crow let out a great big breath, like he’d just exhaled every last bit of his tension. His shoulders slumped, and he waved a finger in front of her nose. “What were you thinking, huh? You had us all worried sick. Miss Martha especially.”

“Sorry,” Rin said, averting her eyes a moment before turning back to stare at Crow- because she wasn’t, not really. The memories of that city like a dream she tucked close to her heart flickered through her mind.

After a second more, Crow lowered his hand and sighed. When he spoke again, it was with an undeniable spark of hope. “So? Did you make it?”

Rin nodded, but the gleam in her eyes answered it all. Crow grinned down at her. “Good kid. So? How was it?”

She told him everything, up until the moment she remembered no more- and her expression crumpled into a frown, there. She knew she wouldn’t have forgotten- not a moment of what she had waited her whole life for. There was no way-

Crow ruffled her hair. “Don’t worry about it. If you can’t remember it, it’s not worth remembering at all.”

Rin nodded, though the frown still stuck fast to her face. She wouldn’t worry about it. Crow’s advice had never been wrong- questionable, but never wrong. But she wouldn’t stop trying to remember, either. Even if it was a bad memory, or a scary one, or painful- it was still _hers_. She still wanted it, more than almost anything else.

And so, dreaming of the day that they’d one day return to the city and reclaim the memory they had lost, summer passed into winter and the tournament came back again, two champions defending their crown once more.

"Going to watch the tournament at that secret spot of yours?" Crow asked, sandwich in one hand and wrench in the other as he passed through the kitchen. Yuugo pulled a face.

"You're not supposed to know about that!"

Crow rolled his eyes and ushered them out the door. "Hey, I _showed_ you two that spot. And Shinji and I never got it back after that."

Rin rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"I called it the Crow's Nest!" Crow called out the door after them, and Rin and Yuugo shared a roll of their eyes. His heart squawked after them, but they knew to ignore it, by then. Together they raced down the beach, barely able to contain their old excitement, never faded even after so many years.

“C’mon, c’mon!” Rin said, pulling Yuugo up by the wrist, “Today’s going to be special! This is the fourth tournament in a row we'll have defending champions!"

They weren't halfway up the ladder before Rin sensed something on the wind, in the distance- she hesitated in her climbing for a moment, trying to see over the tops of the buildings that blocked the city from her view.

"Something wrong?" Yuugo called up. Rin bit her lip a moment, staring up at the sky, then started climbing again.

"No," she called down, "just got a weird feeling."

She climbed a few steps higher, glanced out at the city again. Smoke clouded the horizon. Rin scrambled up the ladder with everything she had, stood on the roof with hands refusing to tremble as she bent down to grab the spyglass. Behind her, Yuugo called- “Hey, hey, what- oh.”

Rin turned the glass on the arena, trying to get any sense of what had happened. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the outer arena wall shattered, a hole pierced clean through its side with a strange precision that no accident or explosive could have caused. But it wasn’t only the arena. The city itself was in flames, patches of orange and red still flickering on and off. Silently Rin passed the glass to Yuugo; with a noise of dismay he realized what she had.

Though they knew not what, something had gone terribly wrong at the start of the tournament, the exhibition match between champions. Silent, they stood on the roof and watched until the sun set and the fires died and they could see no more of the city of their dreams.

The morning brought with it news, caught in whispers too loud to be anything but intentional.

"Did you hear?" came the whisper through Satellite, "the champions are dead."

All their questions- but _how, why, when_ \- were answered fast by two words. The prophecy. The old thing had risen up and demanded their lives as forfeit. Rin could only feel empty at the news, tracing the words over and over the familiar lines of her mouth. “What are they going to do? About the tournament?”

The young boy who’d come to deliver the news to Martha’s orphanage, dressed in layered rags and one of Martha’s knit caps over his long hair replied- “Dunno. Sounds like they’re just gonna have an open tournament.”

Rin glanced at Yuugo, who was already watching her. “C’mon.”

Together they dashed towards their rooms, threw everything they had into the worn bags they had scavenged up from the harsher part of Satellite a few years after Rin’s power had awoken.

“And where are you two going?” Martha’s voice stopped them in their tracks. The look in her eyes told them that she already knew- that despite her worry, her sternness- that she wanted them to go. Crow walked up behind her, looking all the world like their proud older brother.

“It’s an open tournament. We’re going to win,” Rin said. She added, at the end- “I have a plan.”

Martha walked over to them, that sternness breaking further with every step. At the end, she dragged them into a hug. They did not fit into her arms as well as they used to when they were small, but they fit well enough. They threw their arms tight around her in turn. “You always do. Go out there and make us all proud.”

There were tears in Martha’s eyes; at her side Yuugo sniffled, tried to hide it. Crow flashed them a thumbs up. “Yeah. Show ‘em what us Satellite kids are made of, you hear? And once I dig up a raft, I’ll come and join you.”

“Now go,” said Martha, “go on and shoo before I think it’s a good idea to try and change your minds.”

They smiled, wrapped her up again in a last hug. Yuugo yelled behind them as they left, waving with both arms- “Cheer us on!”

They climbed atop Rin’s heart- a full fledged pegasus now-  from their familiar perch and watched the Satellite as it faded behind them, a rusted old island in the wake of the white stone city.

* * *

Rin breathed out, felt that familiar, beautiful exhilaration that caught her up like a breath of fresh air from the ocean, tearing that veil of smoke and industrial waste away- and let her heart _soar_. It burst from her in feathers and white, catching bright in the midday sun at its height. Faintly she heard the gasps of the crowd, and it only amplified her excitement, only had her heart pawing impatient at the ground, hoof dragging through the dirt with a neigh like a battle cry.

“If it’s a race you want,” said Rin, staring up at her opponent with a cocky grin that he’d soon come to know she could back up better than he could have ever dreamed. “You’re on.”

She drew her top card flashed it at Yuugo; his heart leapt obediently into shape- once, then twice, then again and again until Rin couldn’t count the amount of matches they’d won, stacked up one atop the other as coins trickled down into their hands, winnings gathered up into haphazard piles in the room that contestants were put up in. Yuugo dumped the pouch of the day’s earnings atop the mound on the table’ Rin ran a hand through it, listening to the satisfying clink of metal against metal.

“What do we even do with all of this?” she asked, suddenly wishing that she had fantasized about living life as a rich citywoman as anything more than _clean clothes, a personal carriage, my own room, Yuugo is there_.

Yuugo shrugged, then picked up a few and tossed them in the air, managing, somehow, to scramble and catch most of them in the air as they came back down. “Dunno. Want to go eat food until we’re sick?”

Rin grinned, picked up her own handful of coins much more straightforwardly than Yuugo. “Sounds good to me. Let’s go buy an entire bakery.”

As they days began to grow longer despite the fact that they should have been heading into winter, their battles grew fiercer, closer, and reality sunk in desperate claws as everyone measured the distance to champion and found only a few left standing in their way.

And it was the day the sun refused to set that saw Rin and Yuugo trying frantically to calm the nervous stamping of their hearts’ hooves against the ground, waiting to meet their final opponents, the last two standing in the way between them and the title that had been a fantastical childhood dream that suddenly they found they had clawed their way to a finger’s length away from achieving-

And they weren’t going to make it.

Rin slammed hard into the ground, thrown there by the humanoid heart’s staff where it had caught her on the back of her Pegasus. There was no air left in her lungs, even as Yuugo charged forth, only to be blown back by the red and black dragon of the opponent’s heart. His heart began to slip back into his body, and _not yet_ , not yet-

Rin tried to force hers back outside, though she could feel the frantic beats and the stickiness of her chest as it tried to refuse her. _We’re so close_ , she thought, _we’re so close!_

Cards soared on the wind- not even of her own creation- but one fluttered to the ground before her and she snatched it up, barely glancing at it. There was hardly time. It was the opponent’s card, but it would do- she threw it over to Yuugo, who caught it between his gloved fingers as Rin tumbled to the ground, trying desperately to avoid that blast of flames coming from the dragon’s grasping claws-

The crowd _roared_ , and Rin feared the worst, knowing they only screamed that loud for blood-

Rin scrambled to her feet, ready to race towards Yuugo’s side with the wind at her back-

But her gaze was stolen to the skies. A dragon. Rin’s breath caught as that dragon’s crystalline wings caught brighter than the city ever had- It was the greatest sight she had ever seen. With a great roar that drowned out even the howling of the crowd, the dragon dove, slammed into the fiend dragon that had rushed to protect the witch-heart. For a moment the two grappled, locked in a terrible display of strength. The fiend dragon opened its mouth, blew flame across the maw of Yuugo’s white dragon- and though Rin glanced at him in worry, Yuugo was facing forwards with determination in the set of his shoulders and the wild grin across his mouth. He yelled, as his dragon dragged the other skywards- “Rin, go!”

Rin’s heart pounded, pounded, burst from her chest with a flick of its mane and a shake of its tail. Rin grabbed Yuugo’s new javelin, thrown towards her in the heart of the battle, and saddled her heart quickly. Before her the witch-heart shifted, turning from green to orange, cut of its dress shifting, flutter of its hair in the wind different, then- but Rin had caught on to the meaning.

_Remember,_ Crow had told them once, the prelude to a glorious bedtime story of adventure and knights and days of prophecy made against gods long dead, _the Knights of Old Xyz were subdued but strong, standing side by side with the ghosts of their fallen. The Knights of Old Standard were lively and bold, calling upon the knowledge of creatures whose shapes their hearts mimicked. The Knights of Fusion were intelligent yet cautious, commanding their workings of steel and iron to give them strength. And the Knights of Synchro..._

With a cry Rin summoned up the wind beneath her charging Pegasus’ wings, and they took to the skies the moment that the witch-heart swung her staff to the earth and stalagmites rose fast from the ground beneath their hooves. _And the Knights of Synchro_ , thought Rin, _were resourceful with pride, drawing upon the very earth itself for their power._

The moment they could be sure of their escape, the witch-heart fluttered into red. With a wave of her staff, balls of flame rushed towards them, too close to dodge- and so Rin held her free hand before her and commanded the wind to tear them to shreds, bits of flame bursting to singe their clothes, past her cheek- but she had the momentum now. Above her the dragons met with matching roars, and Rin pressed forwards. The witch-heart spun into green, but Rin could not stop- only meet the galewinds with a force of her own, pushing through, refusing to let the opposing wind grind her to a halt- and then she was there, Pegasus digging hooves into the ground with her landing and javelin tip pressed to the throat of the witch-heart.

From the skies there was an ear-splitting roar and the rush of wind from something heavy falling, the shake of the earth as it hit the ground- then sparks of sparkling white and gold and green overtook Rin’s vision as the heart before her retreated with a final, kind smile.

Rin spun her head, unwilling to believe-

But on the ground before her was the red dragon, Yuugo’s bright heart settling down behind the him.

“Jack,” said the Queen, and so too did the fiend dragon vanish in a shower of sparks like black and white stars. Atop her heart, Rin sat silent and open-mouthed, watching them flicker out one by one.

“Match!” yelled the judge, after a moment of frozen incredulity, and though she moved, the rest of the world still seemed to be holding its breath once more- and then a cheer. It rose up quiet from the rafters then raced its way like a wave down the gathered crowd until it roared, deafening Rin to anything else, blinding her to the fact that there was a world beyond the stadium.

“Yuugo!” she yelled, nearly falling off her heart in her hurry to dismount, regaining her balance as she ran, scrambled towards Yuugo, the two of them racing towards each other with white feathers chasing their way behind them like tails of comets.

“Rin!” Yuugo yelled back, then swept her up into a hug, off her feet, laughter bubbling over from the two of them, glorious and brilliantly demanding- but there was one thing she had to say, one thing she had to force out before euphoria could take her-

“We did it,” Rin breathed below the screaming of the crowd, “We did it! We beat the King and Queen!” _They’d done it, they’d done it, they’d done it_ \- and not even their predecessors had. Yuugo set her down without breaking their embrace and smiled, big and wide up at everyone cheering on _them_ -

And Rin let the laughter take her.

* * *

The city was not the place it once had been. Or perhaps, Rin thought, it had always been that way, and as children, they had simply never seen. Why else, she came to realize, would they need a satellite for the poor built so far off from the land of prosperity.

Lavish ballrooms, excess and luxury and feasts thrown to the rubbish at the end of the evening. It turned Rin’s stomach. They had _won_ . They had succeeded their predecessors- _no_ , Rin thought, _surpassed_ \- their predecessors in every sense. They hadn’t even needed to rely on a prophecy to do it. Certainly their rule had so far been much shorter, but the challengers that faced them were no threat before Rin’s strategies, Yuugo’s intuition. She had no doubt that their reign of laughter would continue as long as they could still fight. They had staked their lives on a dream and a bet, and in the world where the terrors of night never woke, they had turned themselves into stars.

And yet.

“Yuugo,” Rin asked one day, one hand dangling off the silk-sheeted bed, “are you happy?”

Yuugo did not answer, only shuffled blankly through his deck of cards, seeing but not reading.

(Stars had no place in a world where the moon never rose.)

“I have an idea,” said Rin, and Yuugo perked up at that, tipping his chair towards her, leaning off it precariously.

“It’s probably good,” replied Yuugo, and so the two began to scheme.

* * *

They stole away in the twilight, when the sun had sunk to its farthest edge, the base of it just touching the horizon and the moon almost visible in the sky, if one were to imagine hard enough, the precursor to the night that would not arrive.

It was a small matter to find their handlers, sitting lofty in their offices preparing to turn in for the evening. They looked irritated at having their closing interrupted, even more so once they opened the door and found who was standing beyond them, sent through by the secretaries.

“What,” snapped the man, closing his case around a small sum of gold, “could you possibly want at this time of evening.”

Rin glowered- the man had always reminded her of a rat, what with the curl of hair at his receding hairline and the way he toyed with his hands, as if looking for a coin or pawn to play with, like a king sitting upon his riches.

She spoke their demands evenly. “We want to invite our friends to watch one of our matches. The one coming up, right before we perform for the King.”

“Your… friends.” He spoke the words with a slow drawl that made Rin’s skin crawl and her heart hiss in her chest, slinking between the lines of her ribs to watch from between. “And you are requesting… what exactly?”

“You heard me,” said Rin, her voice rising, “We want to bring our friends to watch one of our matches.”

The man curled up his lip in a distaste he had never before had to hide, his voice a mere facsimile of calm. “And as I keep telling you. That is unacceptable. You are already jeered as much as you are cheered. The stars of Academia were of the highest prestige. A prodigy and a Knight of Fusion, even!  For their successors to be… to be…”

“Say it,” Rin dared, spitting fire.

The attendant turned up his nose. “To be revealed as trash from the Satellite would be an utter disgrace to the court.”

“So that’s what we are-“ Rin began, ignoring Yuugo’s tug at the loose fabric at her elbow- “Just trash? Not even human?”

The attendant leaned over the desk- though Rin and Yuugo had always been tall, for their age, the man had a foot and a half on them easily- but Rin refused to back down, stepping up on her toes to meet his glare. Without warning he surged forwards, grabbing Rin by her collar and dragging her face forwards.

His breath hit her face, practically rancid. “Now listen here, you little brat. You’re trash. Lucky trash, but still trash. You wouldn’t even deserve to be pawns on the chess board, understand? You’re the squares beneath the King’s feet. And that’s all you and your, your friends will ever be.”

He pulled back a hand; Rin’s power jumped and shivered through her veins. “Besides, they’re probably all-“

“Get away from her!”

The man jerked violently, his body convulsing, doubling down so fast his head nearly slammed against the polished wood of his desk. Still his grip was in Rin’s shirt, still his eyes were open wide, though Rin doubted he was seeing anything but black.

“Yuugo,” Rin said, prying his hand from her new shirt with the frantic rip of a button from its stitching, “Yuugo, it’s happening again. Yuugo, he’s-”

Black bled from him, slipped out from his chest and stained the fine leather of his briefcase as it bubbled slow and sickly as tar. Yuugo pulled her back from it, watched as even his body crumbled into black, a dripping puddle over his floor and desk.

“Why?” Yuugo asked, staring at the former man, “I thought the Prophecy was supposed to fix all this. It was supposed to-” Yuugo stopped, stared at Rin. Her expression was hard; she knew it. But she had to know now, she had to. They’d only been gone for a few months, they’d only-

“They’re all what, Yuugo?” Rin worried her lip, spun on the spot, began pacing the other direction. “What was he going to say? And what happened in Satellite while we were gone?”

“Let’s go find out.” He spoke without hesitation. He opened the door; Rin stopped in her tracks.

“But we have a west dawn show in a few hours. A private show for the King! That’s part of our biggest dream! And you’re saying-“

“Yeah,” said Yuugo, a smile slapped easy across his face, “let’s go back. What's the point in being famous if we can't even bring our friends around to watch us?”

And when he said it like that- when he said it like that, it was so _simple_. Like RIn had been fretting for nothing, like she had been agonizing over a decision already made. “Okay,” she said, “let’s go.” And let him lead the way.

Home was not as they remembered it. When they stole that boat from the harbor and landed it hard on satellite's shores, the world had been lost to a creeping darkness, tugging long at the edges of the shadows and clinging like vines to the abandoned buildings that, even dilapidated and thrown into disrepair, had always been so brimming with life.

This place was nothing but a hollow remnant of the world that she loved, a ghost town where even the whispers on the wind dared not tread. Rin and Yuugo wove their way down the familiar beach, only the sound of the waves to keep them company in the silence where the factory noise and distant scuffles had once lived.

“I’ll go to the orphanage,” Rin said, “and you go look for anyone who can tell us what happened.” Yuugo nodded, and they split off their separate ways. The longer she walked the more she began to doubt that Yuugo would find anyone- she felt so utterly alone in those streets, she couldn’t even imagine eyes on her back, staring at her from the boarded-up windows. Rot crept up from under her boots, and the wind blew it all away for her without even a conscious thought, tearing it into tiny flakes alongside the scraps of faded paper that it picked up in its influence. When she arrived at the orphanage, in a better state than the haphazard old buildings beside it, she couldn’t even take it as comfort. Rin stalled for a moment at the entrance, then shook away her hesitation and opened the door.

“Miss Martha?” Rin asked, calling into the emptiness. She stepped through the threshold, a whirlwind kicking up at her feet, shredding the traces of rot and dust and throwing them far to the corners.

"Rin?" Called back a voice, so faint she nearly missed it. It wavered out from a familiar room at the end of the hall- Rin dashed towards it, her footsteps too loud in the shuttered house. The door was cracked; Rin threw it open with a rush of stale air. Miss Martha was sitting at the edge of her bed, waiting. "Rin. I'm so glad to see you again. You know we've been hearing stories about you two. Just rumors. Security didn't want us all getting too many grand ideas, but we knew it was you two-"

Martha broke off with a shudder and cleared her throat a few times, seemingly to no avail.

"Miss Martha! Are you okay? You shouldn't be staying here all by yourself! What if something happened?" But even as she spoke, Rin knew the answers, could see them bleeding out down Martha's chest as she coughed, deep and wet. Rin dashed forwards, trying to steady the woman, but Martha only reached out and clasped her hands between hers.

"Listen," said Martha, and Rin desperately wanted to tell her not to push herself, to save her energy- but that sounded too much like she was dying, like this wasn't something that Rin could fix- "Do you remember that day you two went to the city?"

Rin nodded- despite the gap in her memory, she would never forget the day that had set their dreams into motion.

"The truth- the truth is, you two came back with something." Martha shuffled out of Rin's grasp, towards her rickety old wardrobe.

"Miss Martha!" Rin protested again, but Martha shook her head, having none of it. She picked up a small box- too fancy to possibly be from the satellite. It was made of dark, polished wood and decorated, Rin thought with an amazement that never faded, with gold. _Real gold_.

"That day, you came back with this. We were so worried you might have stolen it!" Martha spoke with so much energy to her voice. It made her sound good, like the woman Rin remembered. Like that, she could have almost ignored the way Martha's heart was melting in her chest, like wax from a lit candle. "But you two are good kids. Take it. I don't know how you got it, but it's yours."

She passed the box over to Rin with trembling hands. She accepted it with ones that were no better. "Miss Martha, I-"

"Go now," said Martha, pushing Rin's hands away, "Crow and Shinji already took the rest of the children away. I'd like to know that all my kids got away safe."

"Miss Martha, you should-"

Martha shook her head, slow and kind. "Now if an old woman like me goes with you kids, I'd only end up causing you trouble. Go on now."

Rin hesitated, then took a slow step back. She tried reaching for the words, found that there was nothing there. Her eyes grew blurry; she blinked and turned away. "Thank you."

"Thank you," she said again, then ran from the room, whirlwind kicking up at her feet again. It didn't stop until she was well out of the house, until the wind howled down the street and tore rot from the already weathered buildings with a viciousness that would have surprised even her, if she had paid it any mind.

Yuugo waved her over, one hand shielding his face from the bite of the cold wind. As Rin slowed to meet him the wind too died down, curling gentle around her shoulders a final time before the air turned humid and still once more.

"Was there anyone there?" Yuugo asked, making no comment on the wind, or Rin's downturned eyes.

"Miss Martha was there."

Yuugo didn't hesitate, but his words came out slow. "Is she..?"

Rin shook her head. When she spoke, her voice wasn't nearly as stable as she would have liked. "She said Crow and everyone got out okay."

"Oh. Hey, that's good! If Crow and Shinji've got 'em, they'll be fine." It was an honest happiness, infectious enough that even Rin began to feel a bit better about _something_ , at the very least.

“Yeah. And... She, she gave me this. You do the honors?" Rin asked, passing the box over to Yuugo. She closed her eyes for a moment, turned her back away. When the tears came, they were few and slow, leaking out from the tiny cracks in Rin's self-control. She wiped them away fast, before they could stain tracks down her cheeks.

"It's... oh, huh. Hey Rin, come look at this."

She held her hand out behind her blindly, still not trusting herself to turn and face him. Yuugo curled Rin's fingers around something smooth and cool.

Rin opened her palm slowly. In her hand was a bracelet. She traced the lines of it with her gaze, then- sudden, harsh, a pounding in her head that swept through her body, knocking the air from her lungs and the color from her vision- and against the monochrome sparks she saw-

She saw the city docks as they once had been, plastered with woodblock printed illustrations of the two champions and advertisements dated for their next show. She saw Yuugo next to her, dressed in the finest Martha could make in those times a little harder- and the corrupted citywoman slumped against the wall, whose heart Rin had blown away.

"So they're here, too," said the young woman with a troubled expression- distant, somehow, in a way that Rin couldn't quite place. Rin glanced up at her, startled- watching as the young woman turned from the slouched body to the two of them.

“What’s your name?” asked the young woman from the posters, and Rin wondered if her mouth was gaping just as wide as Yuugo's.

"Rin." "Yuugo." The two spoke almost at the same time, scrambling over themselves to say it, and it put a smile on the young woman's face. She laughed, a little. It was a nice sound. Energetic as the sun and promising as the dawn.

“The two of you both have such bright hopes for the future, don’t you?” Rin opened her mouth to ask how she knew; the young woman beat them to it. “I can tell by the way that your eyes sparkle. I know someone who used to look just the same way.”

“Well?” Yuugo asked, “How is it? Is it everything you wanted?”

The young woman looked a little taken aback by the question, and she took a moment to answer. Rin liked that little moment of thoughtfulness, open and honest. It showed that she was taking them seriously. “Well. It’s not quite what I thought it would be. I’m a little bit scared about what’s going to happen in the future. But I believe that I can change it, so I won’t stop until I’ve done it.”

Rin blinked up at her, the young woman looked back at her with a terrifying sadness coloring the determination in her tired eyes.

“And I’m sorry,” said the young woman, holding a hand to the sky and waving her wrist gently, as if threading her fingers through something that Rin could not see, “but I'm stealing something very important from you. I hope what you get instead is much, much better than what I'm taking."

The champion tugged, a flick of her wrist, and above the sound of Yuugo's faded yell, Rin swore that she could hear the sound of something snapping. Rin felt suddenly faint, a weakness in her legs that sent sparks flying behind her eyes- a blink and the world had lost its color, another and black crept in on the edges of her vision. The last thing she felt, faintly, as her gaze went to the monochrome sky, was the young woman’s hand on her back, lowering her gently to the ground.

But as Rin caught that glimpse- that final patch of sight before the blackness took over her vision- of her heart, dissolving back to her chest in a flash of white from the sky, she understood.

(She understood, and then she slept. Slept until reality became dream and dream became reality, and thought of a home that she had never known with friends she had never known. She forgot, for a moment upon waking, that her name was not _Ruri_.)

Rin stumbled back. _Fate_ . The word hung heavy on her lips, though she knew that it was never said in the memory, never thought, not in so many words- _My fate. Back then, she-_

"Yuugo," she said, and he looked up at her, though didn't remove his steadying hands- "Do you remember when we were little, and all we wanted was to be the heroes of the old prophecy?"

"Yeah, 'course I do." He said it with a little lilt of his voice turning it into a question, a prompt for her to go on. Rin took a long breath, tried to remember the words that she had never quite memorized as well as she probably should have.

"Well... Do you remember the new one?"


	15. Act VI, Part 2

Fall had well settled in by the time that they arrived at the outskirts of Xyz, the air brisk at morning and twilight- not unpleasantly so, but just enough that the nip of it at their skin served to remind them that they were alive. The scattered patches of trees had leaves turned orange and gold and all the colors of the twilight, and morale was high. With Grace’s information they’d managed to avoid conflict with any areas held by main Academia forces, but the few skirmishes that had proved unavoidable had been resounding victories. Prayers of thanks to the shattered gods were common- as if their victory was a force determined high in the heavens and deep beneath the earth rather than in their own actions.

The town they were approaching from the long, winding road was right on the border between Fusion and Xyz, a no man’s land on neither side of the war lest neighbor turn against neighbor. It was only another tiny little thing, supposed to be no more than a few houses and hotels for travelers to stay the night- but the skyline was wrong, too many hard objects staring out at them.

“What are those things?” Ruri asked, squinting to try and determine what the shapes that stood even with the houses were. Rin passed her the spyglass and Dennis knew even before her surprised gasp what she would see. Rusted statues of great gears and scrap-iron, the tools of the knights who had once fought against the third and darkest of gods. “They’re metal statues!”

“There’s no way they make statues that big,” Shun said, plucking the glass from her hands, then was promptly silenced by what he saw. 

“They do in the city,” Yuugo chimed in, and Shun passed the spyglass back to him, wordless. 

Their approach into the city was hastened by excitement. Dennis alone dragged his feet, watching the giants with suspicious eye.  _ Why are you hidden all the way out here? _

He wanted to ask Grace (who had, for some inexplicable reason, continued to delay her escape)- there was no guarantee that she would know the answer, but she had been in contact with Academia’s main forces much more recently than he had. If the Ancient Gears here hadn’t yet been collected, then…

“Something wrong?” Sayaka asked, and Dennis startled a bit. He hadn’t heard her come up from behind. 

He shook his head. “No. I just have a bad feeling.”

Sayaka glanced out at the town ahead- perhaps the statues looked just as intimidating to her as they had the god of the old days, because her expression flattened out into a frown. She hummed an indecisive noise, then- “After here is Academia’s territory. I’m worried too. There’s no turning back, once we go through this town.”

Or perhaps not. But then again, even if they did recognize them to be Ancient Gears, they had no reason to believe that they were a sign of Academia’s presence. They simply were as they were, a rusting part of a prophecy from centuries ago. He said, to play along- “You’re right. We’ll need to be prepared.”

“I’ve been practicing,” Sayaka said, anticipating his next question, and the two spent the rest of the walk to the town caught up in conversation. Dennis kept one eye on the Ancient Gears, slowly beginning to relax when it became evident that they weren’t making any move to head towards the rebels, even though any member of Academia nearby must have been aware of their presence. Like that it was easy to focus on conversation with Sayaka, about her forms and what she wanted to practice most that night when they settled down for camp.

* * *

Academia gave them no warning when fire rained from the skies and the earth shook beneath their feet in the wake of the three statues’ awakening.

Yuugo’s heart, the massive white dragon, was before them in an instant, wrapping them in its crystalline wings and shielding them from the impact of the shattering scraps of iron and brick. Yuugo grimaced but stood tall at Rin’s side, already searching the skies for any sight of a fellow dragon.

Yuuto, meanwhile, stared up at the iron giants as they began to move, gears creaking at an ear-piercing volume, a high-pitched screeching that wouldn't end. He shouted above the din- "How are we supposed to defeat these!?"

"We'll find a way!" Shun yelled back- shorthand for what Dennis had come to understand meant he had no idea, but would be willing to try just about anything.

The great golems that stood proud against the walls of Academia's keep were not unfamiliar to Dennis, but never before had he seen them move to action, enchanted by the knights and the special powers of their Hearts. He tensed, stared up at the Giants as they took to their full height. Of course, he thought, Grace wouldn’t have warned him about this. It wouldn’t end well. And even best case scenario, he thought, he doubted that the controllers of the old giants would be able to distinguish friend from foe unless he found them first.

"Tell the units to scatter!" yelled Yuuto, the command echoing back through the lines, "And if anyone has any information on these, speak up now!" Sayaka dashed back from the chaos to relay the message and gather up the units- though what good nothing but sheer numbers would do against the Giants, Dennis had his doubts.

"Rin, back me up!" Yuugo yelled, leaping atop his dragon's back and taking fast to the skies with a beat of wings that left everyone else bracing against the wind.

"Wait, we need a strategy!" Rin replied, but leapt atop her own heart as it materialized beside her and followed him up regardless.

"I thought all of the Ancient Gears had been destroyed!" Shun yelled over the shaking of the earth.

"Obviously not!" Dennis said, leaping up the earth as it rose beneath his feet. Lady Himika had set about collecting the remnants of the shattered Ancient Gears that dappled the landscapes from her earliest days at Academia, citing her heritage as a Knight, proclaiming her intent to destroy them to further the cause of peace- ostensibly, it had been a great show of faith that the gods had bestowed upon her. In reality, thought Dennis, remembering training sessions against the metal dogs and clockwork soldiers, it had only been in attempt to strengthen Academia's military power for a takeover of the capital. An excuse thin as a wedding veil. He wondered, in retrospect, how it had ever fooled a soul.

In the skies Rin and Yuugo danced and darted fast between the giant’s reaching hands. They were slower than the clockwork soldiers that teachers set on the students during training, but even so- one swung its arm at Yuugo, and he twirled fast out of its range, but the wind blew him far towards the ground, and he struggled a few freefalling seconds before skirting the top of a building and racing up into the air again. Above them Rin seemed to be doing better, dancing between the two giants easily-

One of the Giants’ feet slammed hard into the ground, digging deep into the earth and sending cracks racing towards them. Dennis leapt to the side, towards a patch of sunken but stable ground, then caught himself on the fall and jumped up the other side, where the rest of the rebel leaders had gathered.

"What do we do!?” Ruri yelled, voice carrying up to Rin who was descending fast.

Rin's heart touched hooves down beside them. "It seems like there's some sort of controlling force for these things. They don't react like anything actually alive. They're too slow!"

One of the two Giants slammed its foot down not twenty feet away, and Dennis' decision was made- whoever had authorized something like this, and no matter who he'd anger by giving the rebels the secret to the Ancient Gears, Dennis thought, he wasn't dying here.

"If they're being controlled, the controllers should be nearby!" He yelled as Rin took to the skies again. “This is ancient magic! The knights used gems and crystals to control them!”

"I'll help," said Shun, and set his heart to the skies with a wave of his hand. “Everyone else search the ground!”

“If your unit is mobile, try and divide the statues’ attention!” Ruri said, and the rebel units gathered close nodded- from one of them horse hearts burst forth, made skittish by the rumbling of the ground but charging forwards nonetheless. “If they’re not, start searching the town and the surrounding woods for the controllers!”

Shun and Yuuto bolted off in one direction, towards the houses that had yet to be demolished on the far side of the street. Dennis made for the houses on their side, still in better condition than the others where the Giants’ feet had torn great holes in the rooves and crushed the brick sides of them entirely. Ruri waved them on, still shouting commands to the units gathered at its feet as Rin yelled back down at her, trading strategies seamlessly.

He tore through the first three houses quickly- they were dusty and on the verge of collapse with neglect, and any hiding spaces had long since been torn from the walls along with the shattered doors and valuables. It was only when he ran through the fourth that he heard it- the sound of crying, too fearful to be quiet.

Dennis stopped, crept through the halls instead. It had long since become obvious that no one should have been in this ghost town, so to hear something now- Dennis rounded a corner and was faced with three small children, clinging to each other in a corner beneath a stained wooden table. They weren’t Academia; that much he could tell from the first glance. While it wasn’t unheard of to have young children accepted- the girl they had met in the cavern had been proof enough of that- they hadn’t the right air about them. In their own way, they were still innocent as could be.

“Where are your parents?” Dennis asked, approaching slow, all worried entertainer. One of the children cried harder. He supposed it was answer enough. He kneeled down and beckoned them out, but the children shook their heads and clung tighter to each other, a stark refusal born of fear. The earth shook hard, rattling the table. The chairs standing on uneven legs toppled to the ground, one falling on Dennis’ bent back. He shoved it off with a flash of emotion that had his heart chirping an indignant song where it sat atop the table.

The children shrieked as beside them the wall started to crumble, throwing up dust and broken brick and mortar.

“Here, come on,” Dennis said, reaching for something to calm the children down with- but there was nothing, and for a horrid moment he stood frozen, the sound of destruction ringing in his ears, like that scene of so long ago-

“Don’t panic!” Sayaka said, breaking into the children’s cries, and though they didn’t stop, they directed their attention to Sayaka immediately. Dennis too turned his gaze to her, and Sayaka gathered them up before her with quick waves of her hand. “We’re going to get out of here, okay? Where-“

Dennis cut her off with a sharp jerk of his head, and Sayaka immediately changed her question. “-do you want to go? Our camp is safe, and we have lots of food and water. Okay?”

“They’re not the controllers,” Dennis said as Sayaka brushed the dust off one’s hair with the flat of her palm. 

“There’s no way,” Sayaka said, though Dennis knew from experience how that wasn’t necessarily true. One of the children grabbed fast to Sayaka’s hand, and she squeezed it back. “I’m taking them back to the camp,” she continued, and Dennis nodded.

“I’ll cover you,” he offered, and Sayaka thanked him, gathering up the children that all clung to her now. 

_ Come on _ , Dennis willed his heart, and the songbird slipped from the air and landed on the ground a bright orange cat, its fur sparking with hints of fire at the edges, ready to slip its form into something more powerful at a moment’s impulse. “Let’s go,” he said, and together they dashed outside. 

It took only a moment to realize that progress had not been made- in the air Rin and Yuugo still circled, dashing in and out between the three Giant’s creaking arms, battering them with strikes of the heart that couldn’t do so much as throw the giants off-balance. “Take them around the long way,” he told Sayaka, motioning towards the back of the house.

Dennis watched as the Giant stalked forwards- in truth, there wasn’t much that he could do against the might of it, only urge Sayaka and the children on faster. He yelled up to Yuugo to try and distract it, to keep it from stepping down- but with a great stomp the Giant slammed its foot into the ground and sent Dennis leaping to the side of the fissure that formed from the impact. His heart couldn’t quite make the leap, caught on the other side. As his heart fell it vanished back into his chest, and Dennis could taste flames and ash on his tongue as he rolled back onto his feet. 

Someone yelled. There was a clattering and a scream, and Dennis turned to look, trying to find from which foot of which Giant someone had fallen- and a canary sang a sweet song, bright in the low roar of the remaining chaos. Dennis looked towards it, saw as a clockwork hound crept out of the shadows and dashed towards him, metal paws hard over the ground. It was an automatic reaction- Dennis’ heart leapt out a matching hound before him, hackles raised and muzzle curled up in a great snarl of challenge. 

Dennis’ heart leapt over the shifting ground, crashing its side full force into the mechanical hound and sending it plummeting to the ground. Dennis wasn’t far on its heels, brandishing his blade and driving the tip of it with all his strength into the joints where the head met the neck. The sound of metal over steel was harsh and stringent to the ears, but the ancient construction bent out of shape with the impact. At his side Dennis’ heart shifted into a fire mote. It slipped quiet into the hound’s chest before bursting quietly inside the hollow frame, collapsing the makeshift ribcage with the clatter of old iron.

Dennis stood from the empty hollow of the hound, his heart leaping from the flames a cat again- whoever had been controlling it had no idea how to do it properly, if it could be taken down by only the most basic of combat techniques taught at Academia- but they could find no one controlling them in the ghost town. And if they truly were moving of their own volition, the Ancient Gears touched by the will of the gods, then-

The chirping of a canary cut into his thoughts. Dennis glanced towards it again, watching as it hopped nonchalantly over the rumbling ground. After a moment, the bird flew off, far into the distance. Dennis tracked it even as he jumped to his feet. It had only been a bird, not a heart- but even that was strange. All the wildlife fled the first signs of a battle, of chaos, if their instincts hadn’t told them to stay away long before it even broke out. 

“Dennis!” Ruri called, Shun and Yuuto at her side, slowing as they approached. They stopped just before him, angling themselves so as to keep one eye on the Giants. “There’s a problem. There’s not a single person in this town.”

"You couldn't find anyone?" Dennis asked, thinking it impossible. The Ancient Gears were shells designed to resemble living creatures, weapons controlled from afar by the Knights of Fusion in the days of stories and legend, the precursors to the Obelisk Force. There hadn’t been any abnormalities he had ever learned about but… Dennis glanced back at the frame of the hound, collapsed and blackened. Unless...

_ Who set them against us _ ? Thought Dennis again. He’d have to ask Grace now. There was no choice. “We should ask the prisoner,” he said, “if she’s as high in Academia’s hierarchy as she says she is, she might know something about this.”

“Good idea,” Yuuto said, and it was at that moment that there came a horrible rending noise from above. The gazes of the rebels snapped towards it immediately- dragging himself down one of the Giant’s chests was Yuugo, clutching onto the back on a strange, six-pronged piece of pointed metal slowly rending through the Giant’s armor as gravity dragged it down from where it had pierced through. Slowly the Giant lifted its hands to smash Yuugo between them, and in a second his heart was a great dragon again, dashing out in a great loop before it could touch him. The clap of its hollow hands resounded, the toll of a thousand bells all at once. The rebels clapped their hands to their ears- Dennis felt as if the constant noise was about to deafen him.

Yuugo shouted something at Rin, unintelligible, and the two alighted down beside Dennis, leaping off their hearts with fluid grace.

“I think we got it!” Yuugo yelled, landing hard on his feet, and Rin shot him a tired look.

“It’s kind of a gamble, but-“ Rin began, but Yuugo was already nodding his head in agreement, knocking her shoulder.

“I’m in,” interrupted Yuugo with a smile made wild with the adrenaline of a fight-something a Champion was clearly no stranger to.

Rin flashed him a fond smile, only the barest hint of a warning to be more careful hidden in its depths, then continued to the rest of them- “There’s a weak spot on their fronts. Right where a heart would be. If we destroy them, I think we win.”

“But how?” Dennis asked, fragments of his lessons flashing across his mind, “Even if you scar them all, you’ll need to destroy the mechanical heart.”

If anyone cast a glance at him at suspicion, it was soon turned in anticipation towards Yuugo, who pulled something from his bag with a wicked grin. The rebels gathered around, trying to place the two strange wrapped objects- 

“Explosives?”

“Took ‘em from the city before we left,” Yuugo said. “Figured we should take whatever might come in handy. We’ll just throw them in all three one after the other. Leave it to us!”

“Wait. If they woke at the same time,” Dennis said, “then they might all be linked. You won’t be able to defeat them unless you destroy them at the same time.”

Rin considered him a moment. “Can your heart burn them through?”

So she’d seen him finish off the hound. No matter. Since the duel with Grace, he’d become less secretive about his abilities in a battle. They’d been together long enough, that kind of improvement was only to be expected. Dennis shook his head- then amended with his words, “No. I don’t have the range. I’d die before it got that far away from me.”

“What’s your maximum?” Ruri asked, with a low gleam to her eyes that said she was scheming- a look that Rin got, sometimes, and Dennis wondered which one of them had picked it up from the other, or if it was only strange coincidence.

“Five meters?” Dennis estimated, “Though I might be able to push it.”

“So if you get on the back of Yuugo’s heart, then-“ Dennis cut her off with a shake of his head.

“Then who’s going to get the third one?”

Rin clicked her tongue, and the ground roiled beneath them. 

“I can.” Ruri stepped forwards, all eyes on her.

“Ruri,” Shun warned, “then I’ll do it.” It was the more logical choice, to have Shun’s heart carry an explosive up. His eagles were fast and his range was much larger- the only moment of risk would come when his heart flew inside the chest cavern and Shun lost all sight of it- then he’d have to fly on instinct alone. But if anyone here could do it, Dennis thought, it was Shun.

“No,” Ruri said, “that’s not what I mean.” Ruri took a deep breath, and her heart, a starling fluttering the skies around them, stopped, hovered there. It expanded, growing taller than even Ruri herself- and when the light surrounding it had faded, it had turned into a harpy, pastel and beautiful. 

“Can she carry you?” Rin asked immediately, and Ruri nodded.

“I’ve practiced once. So I’ll take one of those and someone else can take Dennis-“ there was a horrid gurgle from the earth, a creature holding on to its last breaths, and when the shaking began this time, it did not stop. 

“Take one and go,” Rin said, taking an explosive, “Scar the other two!”

Yuugo nodded and leapt into the sky with his heart. Meanwhile, Shun had turned to Ruri- “I’m not letting you do this on your own.”

“This really isn’t the time!” Ruri protested, and no, Dennis thought, it really wasn’t. Somehow, against all logic, there was no one to control the Ancient Gears that had begun to run about the city wild. Even under Academia’s grueling training, his heart never did muster up the ability to form his favorite card, the humanoid Trapeze Magician- but there was a part of it that he had mastered. Dennis closed his eyes, focused hard, snapped the fingers on his left hand, and when he curled his hand, a metal bar dropped neatly into it. 

“I’ll go up with her. If it’s my heart, we know it won’t miss its target. How strong is your harpy?” he waved the bar at the talons sinking into the ground.

“Strong enough,” Ruri said, and Dennis nodded, glanced at Shun. After a moment he relented, though his worry was still clear, something dark and helpless beneath all of it- it didn’t suit him in the slightest.

Ruri’s heart pulled her into its arms and she looped arms around its neck. When it took to the skies it swooped low over Dennis’ raised hand and caught the edges of the bar between its talons- and for a horrible moment Dennis thought that it wouldn’t be strong enough- but then he was pulled off his feet, soaring low, feet almost touching the ground- and then gaining foot after foot, until the ground was turning dizzily below, indistinct with the shaking. 

Dennis could have laughed- so this was how it felt, he thought, to be free as a bird. The Giant’s hand swept past them, and Ruri shrieked as the wind sent them spiraling down a moment before they caught the updraft again, heading steadily towards the gash that had been made in the Giant’s chest. They swung close, and Dennis leaped in, his heart clattering in hand as he landed hard on the metal floor. 

The chamber was empty save for a group of cogs and gears that made up the representation of the Giant’s heart- perplexingly enough, still unmoving. But from outside, Ruri began to yell the signal, counting down from  _ five _ -

Dennis focused, let his heart burn through his veins-

_ Four- _

Searing, hot to the point where his blood began to boil-

_ Three- _

Pulling from him, a swirl of fire, a playful face of soot with the mischievous nature of a sprite-

_ Two- _

Dennis opened his eyes, heart burning bright beside him-

_ One- _

His heart charged, flew towards the black cogs with a heat that stole the air from even Dennis’ lungs-

“Now!” Ruri yelled, and his heart made impact with a crackling explosion that sent his ears ringing as it echoed inside the metal chamber. The gears had melted through in an instant of blue flame, and his heart retreated towards him, fighting off the exhaustion that had already begun to settle.

“I’ve got it!” he forced himself to yell, racing towards the gash in its center as the Giant swayed dangerously far- and there was no more time- Ruri yelled to him, but it was too far for him to jump-

“Come on!” he yelled at her, and let himself fall from the Giant’s heart. And this, he thought, was freedom in the freefall- the exhilaration of the weightless rush outweighing the fear of not being caught- because not a moment later Ruri’s hands had wrapped tight around his wrists, turning their fall into a slow descent alongside Rin and Yuugo.

As the Giants fell they crushed houses beneath them, crumbling with the sound of crunching collapse and old joints creaking. And there was something that stole his breath away, left his chest aching as his bluebird heart watched with shimmering eyes narrowed against the sun, about watching the weapons that had destroyed a god so many years ago fall to hearts and the explosives of the modern age.

His feet touched the ground just before the harpy’s, and Ruri leapt out of her heart’s arms, brilliant smile painted wide across her face. “We did it!”

“It was amazing,” Yuuto said, and Dennis gazed across the rebels, at the ones who had defeated the weapons of the godslayers, cheering their victory against the most impossible odds in their lives. Yes, he thought, it was.

* * *

The rebel leaders gathered after the battle, taking in what rest they could in the ruins of the tiny border town. The tremors of the earth had not yet ceased, and the world still shook the birds from the trees on the far end of town and blurred their vision- even the clouds in the sky seemed to tremble, unnerved by the might of the ancient weapons.

“We should detour,” Ruri said, and Sayaka, Yuuto, Shun nodded. “Just in case that was a trap Academia set for us.”

It wouldn’t make much of a difference, Dennis thought- they were in Fusion now, and Academia’s influence reigned. There wasn’t a parent who didn’t aspire to send their child through its gates, not a dreamer who hadn’t considered a fantasy life as one of its scholars. Still, there would only be an argument he couldn’t properly defend if he disagreed. He nodded too, and Ruri returned it. 

“Good idea,” Rin said, “We really don’t want to be caught in another attack right now.”

The rebels turned to glance at the newcomer with varying levels of disapproval- though Dennis knew that none of them really questioned Rin and Yuugo’s trustworthiness, at this point, this was still technically a discussion that she wasn’t allowed to be party to. The sheepish expression so quickly buried by an affected air of self-importance and authority that quickly took it over told everyone present that she knew it, too. “I know, I know. I’m not allowed to be a part of this conversation. But, if it’s a detour… There’s a friend of ours waiting to meet us in a town a little ways from here. He has information that can help us.”

“What’s his name?” Dennis asked, hoping to hear one he knew. Perhaps Academia had caught wind of the Tempest Witch and her dragonheart after all.

Rin bit her lip. “I can’t tell you that.”

Irritating, though not unsurprising. He asked instead, “Is there anything you can tell us?”

“Not until we get there. It’ll be two days out of the way if we leave now. More than that if not.” Rin did not compromise in her words. Sensing it, the rebels exchanged glances. 

“We’ll take you up on it,” Ruri said, “We’ll need to get off of this road as soon as possible anyways. We can’t afford another battle right now. Especially not with weapons the size of these, and especially without more gunpowder.”

It wasn’t always the wisest idea to march on with troops that had already had panic shift through them fast that morning- but they made ground, driven on by the fear of being ambushed by Academia in their moments of idleness. By the time they finally settled down, the sun had been sitting on its set in the eastern horizon for quite some time. 

Dennis helped Shun throw up their tent, then crawled in and promptly threw a blanket over himself, not caring if it intruded in Shun’s space. Shun crawled in a moment later, made a dismissive noise at Dennis’ haphazard setup, then threw his things down and flopped down with equal lack of care. For a long while Dennis hovered on the hazy edges of sleep, then-

“I’m tired,” Shun confessed with a quietness unlike him. Dennis rolled over, tried to peer through the darkness of the tent at him. The tent flaps were heavy and shut firm, and without the light, Dennis could only trace the vague outline of him.

Dennis wondered if it would be politer to ask or to politely agree without pressing. But Shun had never been one for formality, and so he said, “Because of the dragonheart.”

“My heart is going to change,” he said, as if he was trying to convince himself to believe it. Too stubborn, Dennis thought. 

The atmosphere was like the shadows curling at the far edges of the tent, curling and hoping to blend in with the darkness that surrounded it. He couldn’t diffuse it with banter, this time. “It’s all a metaphor, anyway,” he said instead. 

Shun didn’t seem convinced- or maybe that was just the way the shadows caught him, eyes straining in the dark. He thought, once, twice, spilled a secret whose only confident left to remember that he’d promised to keep it was himself. “Sakaki Yusho didn’t have a dragon’s heart either.”

The shift in the air was immediate. Shun said, “But he did. All the stories-“

“The stories are all lies, Shun. They used them for morale. Legitimacy. Sakaki was a known descendent of a Knight of Mai- of Old Standard. Saying Sakaki had a dragon’s heart secured his position at the head of the Rebellion when other Knights started to question him.”

For a long time between them, there was silence. 

“But Sakaki’s rebellion didn’t succeed,” said Shun, finally. 

_ It’s not like you to doubt so much _ , thought Dennis, followed immediately by-  _ Of course he couldn't have succeeded. Academia pulled the strings so that all the cards fell in their favor. _

He looked over at Shun again, the vague shape of him staring up at the centerfold of their tent.  _ And if Sakaki Yusho ever had the potential to be dragonheart, Academia made sure that it was his fate to never realize that. _

“No,” Dennis said, and did not let the lie hang ashen in his throat, “but this one will.”

Shun let out a long breath. “Yeah. It will.”

* * *

He’d have to speak to Grace again. What had happened the previous day was an anomaly, and he should have forced himself to speak with her then, no matter how the ache of his heart was trying to force him into sleep. Ruri was trying to get answers out of her, he knew, though there was no guarantee that she would be so cooperative. But all day he was busy with one thing or another, running from the front to the back of the caravan with Sayaka and Shun. Things had, it seemed, been throw into great disorder overnight.

“I took stock of this two days ago!” Sayaka said, holding a tattered list up to her face and speaking into it quietly, more than a little distressed, “We had plenty of preserved fruits and vegetables! It’s too much for someone to have eaten in one night! And unless Academia snuck into camp just to steal all our pickled vegetables, I don’t know what could have happened!”

“There’s nothing you could have done,” Dennis said, giving her a sympathetic look once she peeked back out from under the paper. She sighed, then tripped a little. Shun caught her by the shoulder and helped her back on course, but it only made her sigh again.

“There’s one town left before the one Rin is leading us to,” Dennis suggested, “Let’s stop there and restock.

“Can we really afford to spare the time?” Sayaka asked, and Dennis glanced down at her supply list. It was, again, disappointingly short. Not quite worrying, not yet- but Fusion’s farmland was much scarcer than Xyz’, and its citizens much less prone to donations of goodwill.

“We’ll have to,” he said, “besides. It’s a good chance to rest and get ourselves back together. If Academia attacks while we’re like this, we won’t be half as good as usual.” What he had meant to say was  _ won’t stand a chance _ \- but somehow, now, he didn’t quite believe it. Irritating, irritating, how they always made him too optimistic. The bird at his side chirped a matching note and dropped down to the ground a cat, stalking ahead.

“Then I’ll pass it on to Ruri,” Sayaka said, glimpsing the town on the distance, a blur of shapes and low skyline. She left them with a brief wave, and Dennis let out a breath of relief- finally, a moment this morning to relax.

“What do you know about the dragonheart?”

Or, Dennis thought, glancing over at Shun, perhaps not. He said, “Not much. I’ve only met one. Or two, if you count Academia’s at the shrine.”

“So I’d be better of asking Yuugo,” Shun replied. 

“I’m not sure he’s a typical dragonheart.” At Shun’s raised eyebrow, Dennis continued, “It seems like most of them have always had a heart that shape, and that it doesn’t change. Even in the old stories it was that way. The rest of them usually happened because of a distortion or corruption.”

Shun evaluated him a while longer, then let out a low noise of agreement. “I’m going to go ask Yuuto a few things,” he said, then hurried along to the far side of the caravan. Somehow, Dennis thought, he hadn’t said the right thing. Or… he had remembered wrong? 

But he knew one thing with certainty- Sakaki Yusho had not been a dragonheart. 

(But then, was the thought promptly smothered, why was there a whisper of a dead dragon’s name in his ear, refusing to be lost in a moment of frozen time?)


	16. Interlude H

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Courage.  
> Begin a search for the truth.

Sasayama Sayaka had a list of Important Things. She did not write them down, nor did she speak most of them aloud. It was simply a list of Important Things. Memories that she must not forget, promises that still needed to be fulfilled. And occasionally- just occasionally- experiences that she mustn’t breathe a word of, never show a sign of having experienced to another soul.

Sayaka hadn’t joined the Rebellion of her own volition. Though she liked to think of it that way, that she had pulled herself up from her darkest moments and tied her string of fate to theirs, the reality had been a much quieter thing.

Her village had burned to the ground as a boy perched on a dragon’s heart had watched disinterestedly, and on that day she had vowed- she would become stronger. Not for revenge’s sake, not for the Rebellion’s sake, but for her own. She had joined the resistance because her home was gone, and if someone like her could make any difference- then she would try. At the very least, she would try.

She had gone into the neighboring Fusion town with a pouch full of coin to get the essentials- ordering food, replacing a few things tattered and worn. It was not a particularly difficult task, and she had gone on her own, confident in her ability to defend herself- or at least in her ability to be willing to prove it. The rebel leaders needed to stay with the camp. It was only appropriate, if they planned on taking another blessing soon, away from the main resistance. But the town was quiet, and in exchange for coin, the locals were happy to forget their questions about from where they had come.

She had been done with the store after a few hours, the only task left to wait until it could all be taken over to the rebel camp outside. It was why she hadn’t realized what had happened until she was thrown in the middle of it, glimpsing a group of Obelisk Force soldiers dashing through the town, hounds at their sides and blades drawn.

_ Why? We detoured in case the awakening of the Ancient Gears was another trap, so why? _

She had seen a familiar face sneaking around, looking shifty and too nervous to be on any kind of official business. She had followed him without a thought to a small building closer to the outskirts of town- and when the view had opened up again, seen a scorched field in the distance and known that their worst fear had come true. Still, Sayaka didn’t dwell long- the boy had crept into the small building, and Sayaka slid under a window, listening to voices come out of the crack.

"They're holding her in the rear," said the traitor, their voice a little shaky.

"Damn it," swore the woman, "I shouldn't have let her go deliver that damn message alone." Her voice picked up again, loud and demanding towards the spy. "Who was it!? Who defeated my sister?"

"D-Dennis! Dennis Macfield. He's one of the inner circle, he helps lead. She-"

"Enough!" Said the woman, and Sayaka flinched at the sound. The click of her boots across the floor, a little closer to the window. Sayaka held her breath and clasped her hands, and prayed to the god of the heavens that her shadow could not be seen. When the woman spoke again her voice was soft. "Thank you for the information. You'll be rewarded amply-"

The slide of a sword from its sheath, fast on the stroke. A muttered word of thanks, cut off by a shriek, bloody and terrified. The wet sound of a sword pulling from flesh, the thunk of a body as it hit the ground, limp. A kick with a boot. A gurgle, then nothing more. 

"Just as we reward traitors." The woman snorted, mirthless and condescending. "Spineless coward."

Sayaka's breath caught in her throat.  _ Even if they were a traitor. Even if- _

"But... Why wouldn't Macfield have let her go by now?" She paused, then- "Well. If he's betrayed us, I'll just kill him, too."

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't- Sayaka slipped from the window, her legs unsteady beneath her. She couldn't. But she had to.

Against the ice crawling up her legs, Sayaka ran.

It was Dennis. Of course it would be- Sayaka skidded to a halt, ducking behind a half-fallen storefront sign to watch for a moment, debating. He was standing at the corner, directing the rebel units back towards the camp, away from where the fighting had been taking place in the fields. The units that she maintained, that he had helped organize- 

That were going to be heading right back into some kind of trap. There was no time left. Sayaka dashed out from her hiding spot, waving Dennis over as she did. She skid to a halt at his side, trying not to act tense, to act like she knew- 

"The rear guard," Sayaka muttered, urgent under her breath, "they’re going to attack again from the rear. It's not over!"

A quiet breath, the flash of understanding. "That's where Ruri and Shun went."

_ That's why I ran _ , thought Sayaka, frantic again. "And the children and the wounded!"

Side by side the two ran, skidding back into camp only to find it all in disarray, Grace standing free next to a great white tiger, a woman similar-looking enough to have been her twin standing next to her with an orange tiger. The latter roared, all dark snarl, and Grace spoke a single word, heavy with implication Sayaka didn’t understand. ”Gloria...”

Shun, Ruri, and Yuuto were facing them down, blades drawn. The other woman- Gloria, scowled at their arrival.

“No, sister,” Grace said, then leaned over. Grace whispered something in Gloria's ear while their tigers stalked around them, ensuring that no one would come near, and no one was willing to provoke their wrath with arrows.

"Fine," said Gloria suddenly, "but first I want to  _ crush them _ ."

The orange tiger raced towards them, and Yuuto's heart burst forth, bulky knight in bright silver armor holding blade across its body, bearing the force of the tiger's approach. Sayaka flinched away, taking a few steps back. Ruri caught her shoulders, then stepped before her and drew her blade, staring down the great tigers as if they couldn’t throw her to the ground with a single swipe of their paws. Her hair fluttered about her shoulders, pieces loose from their bindings, and in that single moment, Sayaka believed that Ruri could defeat them in a single blow.

And that, Sayaka thought- that was the kind of strength that she wanted, that unwavering strength of the heart. 

The white tiger stalked forwards, eyes set on them with a low gleam to them, watching its prey, judging every twitch of their muscles. Waiting for the moment of most vulnerability to strike.

“Sayaka!” Dennis yelled, and it was as if everything happened in slow motion. Sayaka caught a sudden flash of fabric and long hair rustling in the wind, turned to face it-

Sayaka, for the slowest, quietest of realizations, stood frozen in horror at the blade swinging down at her in slow motion, the silver of it caught in a graceful arc, and thought with a beat of horror that this was where her life was to end. 

And the world stood still again, the flow of time halted a precious second as shock bloomed across Gloria’s face as Sayaka instinctively drew her sword. Sayaka used of that one moment of surprise, her precious advantage against an opponent stronger, taller, more experienced- and brought it flat in a parry, shoved her backwards by the blade.

When time snapped back to its proper flow with a quiet pop and a small shattering of that soundless bubble, Dennis and Shun had raced over to her side, flanking her with blades at the ready. 

Before Gloria had even regained her balance her heart sprang forth to cover her, landing light on massive paws and hissing low and intimidating. From the sky Shun’s heart dived down at it, and Dennis’ small cat leapt onto its back to rake its claws across its body.

“No,” said Grace, turning from her crossed swords with Ruri to let her tiger race forth. Ruri narrowly leapt out of the way. Grace crossed swords with Shun instead, driving him back step by step with that same flurry of blows that she had matched with Dennis in their duel before. Shun’s heart, distracted, flew back towards him, and Dennis’ cat was thrown back by the orange tiger, who then turned its sights on Dennis himself.

Gloria threw herself at Sayaka, but Ruri pushed her aside, intercepting her halfway there- but Ruri was off-balance and Gloria threw her to the ground. It was Sayaka’s turn, then- she raced forwards, blade drawn and held between hands that refused to shake. She matched Gloria’s one strike, then second, but her blade was thrown from her hands on the third-

“Sister!” Grace called, and Gloria stopped in her tracks, blade halfway to Sayaka’s throat, though her aggression was barely restrained. “We’ve lost.”

Gloria couldn’t hide her sneer, as she glanced towards the approaching dragon, the blue-green of Yuugo’s crystalline wings catching the sun, but slowly stepped back. 

Sayaka relaxed at the declaration- then was met immediately with a boot to her chest, knocking the air from her lungs and sending her heart clattering painful against the walls of her chest cavity. She hit the ground hard and her vision went black for a terrifying second where the entire world swam in a fit of sounds and fragments of syllables that didn’t make sense no matter how hard Sayaka tried to parse them- and then she was blinking herself back to reality, a ringing in her ears and pounding in her head.

“Sayaka! Are you okay?”  And then, again, she was blinking up at Ruri, a little dazed but otherwise unharmed. It seemed, somehow, Sayaka thought, that they kept finding themselves in these kinds of situations.

Sayaka nodded. After a little while of catching her breath, she pushed herself back up into a sitting position. “I’m fine.”

Still, Ruri frowned. “Well, we’ll have you checked for any bruises and things later. Can you talk? Dennis said you knew they were going to attack.”

Sayaka swayed a bit getting to her feet. Dennis offered his hand, and Sayaka took it without thinking. “Nice block,” he said, and for the moment, just that moment, her pride in the praise was enough to outweigh her suspicions. It wasn’t enough to keep her from letting go, from making sure to walk between him and Ruri over towards Shun and Yuuto, waiting with hearts adjusting restless wings and pawing uselessly at the ground. Just in case. 

"How did this happen?" Shun demanded, clutching at his wounded shoulder. The pain did nothing to stymie his anger- or perhaps, Sayaka thought, it only served to fuel it.

"There was a traitor," Sayaka said, and the atmosphere went dangerous and sharp.  _ Don't breathe too hard, _ she thought _ , or you'll end up with bloody lungs. _ Her heart beat uneasy in her chest, shifting beneath her ribs with a hint of something soft teasing beneath her skin where the red veins pushed against her skin. "They told Academia's commanders that some of our leaders were tending to the injured in the back."

Shun narrowed his eyes, glanced around the makeshift rear guard. "And who had that information besides the ones who stayed behind? That's not what we told the squads."

"I don't know who it was." She answered truthfully- the voice was one that she was not familiar with, their figure had been obscured by those of Academia's commander. Flinching at the memory, she added- "And it doesn't matter now. They won't... They won't be a problem for us any more."

"It was spies that brought down Sakaki's Rebellion," said Dennis, voice stiff and guarded in the way it got when he spoke of the past. Like he was afraid of what he'd say- or rather, Sayaka thought, what he couldn't say. She knew what Yuuto and Ruri had told her not so long ago, the story of an orphan taken in by the rebellion in an act of kindness, a boy who had seen his idol slaughtered before him- but there was more to it than that. He had the airs of a dying man clinging to an old secret, desperate not to have it torn from him in his last breath.

"So we need to be more careful," said Sayaka, catching Dennis' eye. He nodded, in what seemed to be honest agreement. 

_ Are you with us,  _ Sayaka thought, recalling Gloria's words,  _ or against us? _

"Ruri," she called out, but the words died on her lips. Later. Later, but soon. She’d think it through, first, find all the evidence and present it one by one, until there could be no mistake one way or the other. That was what she was best at, and that was the thing she could do, now.


	17. Act V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fragment of your soul dressed in silver and jewels.

The landscapes of central Fusion were nothing like the fields of their Heartland, golden and warm in the eternal sun. Rivers crossed and broke and joined again through the craggy marshes of the oceanside territory, giving way to forests thick and ancient.

But even those ceded to towns set upon rivers and high upon the hills- great, sprawling things that hummed with activity and sparkled with distant light to rival the sun no matter the hour. The rebels stayed far on the outskirts as the leaders, along with a Sayaka insistent on being taken along, accompanied Rin and Yuugo down to meet their friend- the one who had supposedly assisted them in getting out of the capital.

The marketplace was dense and crowded with people, enough so that no one spared them a second glance once they were devoid of their rebel red. Dennis hadn’t bothered to take off his ribbon- he doubted that such a small thing would make a difference, and the impassive crowd proved him right.

“He said he’d wait for us,” said Rin, glancing through the throngs of people- but there was no one heading towards them, gathered at the outskirts near a closed-down shoe store. “But he’s late.”

“What does he look like?” Ruri asked, peering through the crowd somewhat uselessly.

“Tall, short silver hair, glasses… He said his name was Reiji.”

Dennis glanced over at the name- it was a dangerous one, especially to come up now. The name itself was common enough- Ray, Rei, Rae, all emblems of humanity’s final victory over the god of the dark- but with that description, there could be no mistake. “How do you know Reiji?”

The tension in the air manifested heavy and deceivingly sharp as he waited for Rin’s response with an anticipation not entirely his.

“He came to the capital,” Rin said, “and told me that if I could gather up enough of the blessings, then I might be able to save someone. How do you know Reiji?”

She did not accuse, though the edge was there, less subtle than she likely thought. He said coolly in answer, “I knew him when we were children. Haven’t seen him in a long time, though.”

Rin looked as if she wanted to say something else- she didn’t seem the type to believe in coincidences outside the lines of fate- but she was quickly distracted by a flash of a red scarf a little ways ahead. 

“Reiji!” Rin called, starting towards him. The boy that turned around- Dennis froze a half second before continuing on. Rin and Ruri were already before him, Shun, Sayaka and Yuuto following close behind. Dennis stuck halfway behind Shun and hoped to be inconspicuous- though that had never been his forte.

He inclined his head in greeting, glancing at the crowd that had assembled around them. More people than he had expected, apparently- the half-furrow of his brow before it flattened out again gave him away. “I’m glad to see you’re well. And your friends must be who I think they are, correct?”

Ruri nodded, stepped forwards to introduce them, one by one. Dennis watched Reiji’s reaction carefully as it swung around to him, but his face was frustratingly blank. Still, there was no mistake. The one before them now was Akaba Reiji, though older than he remembered.  _ Aren’t we all? _ Dennis half-thought, but cut himself off before he could finish.

Ruri asked, “And what is your name?”

Reiji glanced at Rin, who gave the tiniest of shrugs in response. Ruri was finally being cautious, it seemed. “Reiji.”

“Just Reiji?” The rebels glanced between themselves. The boy was obviously well-off. Though it seemed he’d been travelling for a while, the quality of his clothes, the leather of his shoes gave him away. What with his family, Dennis wasn’t surprised.

“Just Reiji. My family are jewelers, though recluses. Family name means little to me." He held up the bracelet on his wrist, two silver bands set with pink stone while they overlapped. It seemed like it could be a matching set with the one around Ruri’s wrist. The same silver sensibilities, the complementary designs- and yet. "My father made this one. Silver and stained pink diamond."

Ruri held up her own bracelet, turning the wings so that they faced Reiji. "It looks like it could match with mine! Or Rin's!"

Rin showed her own bracelet, pulling up her long sleeve, and Dennis glanced at it, then couldn’t look away. Reiji's eyes widened a fraction at the two bracelets. There was no mistake, then. Clearly they had been a set. But the interesting thing was this:  Rin’s bracelet was created in the image of the Akaba family crest- a symbol of power that anyone who’d set foot between Academia’s walls would recognize. It was an old design, out of date with what the rebels would know, but a sign of Academia nonetheless.

“Interesting,” said Reiji, “to see just how far they’ve travelled.”

They were the same set, and yet the power that flowed from them was different. From Rin’s came a power low and fading, a dying ember overshadowed by her own natural ability as a vessel. Ruri’s held something similar, but much stronger and rougher around the edges, though the energy was entirely passive. And Reiji’s… Reiji’s was as a counterpoint to the other two, an energy the polar opposite of Rin’s. Three gods, three bracelets. In that moment, Dennis thought he understood-  _ but then why four blessings _ ?

Dennis glanced up, made unfortunate eye contact with Reiji. Dennis smiled awkwardly, unable to hide his unease. Reiji’s expression did not change, harsh behind his glasses. There was always the possibility that Reiji had forgotten him. They had never been close enough to call friends, not even at their closest. Shared a mutual friend, perhaps, but nothing more.

_ How much do you know _ , Dennis wanted desperately to ask, but could not. At the very least, he knew what he could say in his defense.  _ He’s the same as me. Academia born and raised. _

Just like Reiji’s; it was only partially a lie.

“So,” Rin said, lowering her voice and counting on the sound of the crowd around them to drown it out to background noise, “you told us to meet you here. Is this…”

“This is the one,” said Reiji, eyes focused on something that no one else could see. “The one with the power to heal the rot.”

“When can we go?” Ruri asked, and though Reiji considered her with the question, it was not with condescension or surprise.

“Now. It’s this way,” said Reiji. The bracelet on his wrist glinted in the sun- or no. Dennis studied it carefully, watched the way that the gem gleamed even under the fold of his sleeve. There was most definitely a different magic in that unassuming trinket, an unfamiliar signature so tantalizing in its weak, mundane pulses, almost indistinguishable from the air around it.

Or perhaps, Dennis thought, they were sensitive to magic, somehow. It wasn't unheard of, in the old days when the goddesses made contracts so freely with knights and scholars, for an object to become blessed, holding power mysterious and strange-

“Wait,” said Rin, “Before we go, we need a better strategy for this. Even if we assume best case scenario and there aren’t any of Academia’s soldiers or traps waiting for us, running in without a plan and assuming that we’d be unopposed burned both of us last time.”

Rin glanced over at Ruri, and something significant passed between the two girls before Rin turned her attention back to the group. “Before that, I do want to make one thing clear. It’s been a pleasure travelling with you all. I wish you nothing but success in reclaiming your Heartland. But Yuugo and I need this blessing. So once we’re inside, we won’t stop until we have it.”

“We won’t let you take it without a fight,” Ruri replied, and Rin smiled at her, lit with the light of challenge- not quite friendly, not quite malicious. They’d always known that it would come to this. 

Reiji led them with confident steps outside the town, towards the hills that bordered it to the north. Cut into the back of one was a set of arches and a great hollow.

As the group headed towards it, Reiji said, soft as Dennis passed, not intending to be heard, “Where exactly did you bring us?”

Dennis tried to glance backwards, subtle, as if only to check that Reiji was following. The other boy was glancing down at his bracelet, as if directing his question to it- but the weak magic from it did not change its feeble pulsation. He worried it with his other hand, and the motion was so familiar- it was so familiar, what he’d done with his most treasured possession as a child-

But it hadn’t been that bracelet. Part of a set, it had been-

Reiji glanced ahead; Dennis hurried to catch them. The group stood together, frozen at the bottom of the few steps outside the space hollowed into the hill.

"It's them," Rin breathed, staring out at the stone ledge that led up to the arches. The former humans were gathered around the stone ledge, their bodies in various stages of decay. Most were the same dark color as the ooze, what remained of their skin peeling as if burned to a crisp. Rin stepped forwards. "Let me take care of them. Please. I’ll drive them back far enough so that you can go through the doors, then follow you through."

“Wouldn’t it be easier to destroy them?” Yuuto asked, “They’re almost as far gone as the ones we met around the first blessing.”

“It would be easier,” Rin said, though pointedly did not agree.  She cupped her hands and let the wind swell from it, blowing fast around the rotted creatures and batting them back any time they tried to break through, trapping them inside a small cyclone.

"Go!" She shouted to them, and the rest of the group raced forwards, climbing up the ledge and through the arches to the interior of the hollow hill.

“What kind of place is this?” Ruri asked, and it seemed that no one had an answer. All that was hidden between the arches was a raised stone platform, a few fallen stones gathered up on the sides of it. Pillars set at even intervals around the cavern held up the illusion of a hill above them.

From the shadows crawled something strange, a beast with lion’s head and body of a great bird, mismatched and sewn together clumsily with stitches made of red veins. As Dennis watched, they pulsed irregularly, as if to the beat of multiple hearts. 

“Chimera,” said Yuuto, his heart growling at the creature’s approach, teeth bared and hackles raised. He stepped forwards, drawing his blade, but Reiji held out a hand, stopped Yuuto in his tracks.

“Let me,” Reiji said, and around him flickered a strange aura, tinged with traces of him but clearly not his own. Runes bloomed into brilliant existence beneath Reiji’s feet, matching the talismans held in his hands. They were delicate, lines crossing and curling in an intricate web that radiated magic. It was ancient and it was powerful, and Dennis shrunk back from it instinctively, narrowing his eyes against the light.

“Come forth and serve me!”

What appeared before Reiji in a flash of light and the crashing of waves against rock was a man- a soldier dressed in the heavy plated armor of the old days, brandishing a broadsword with both hands. He looked impossibly familiar, a figure drawn vivid and bold through the pages of history- a relic, from the days when Academia keep had been a place of Emperors and Kings rather than scholars and prophecy.

“As you command,” said the King with bowed head. Reiji pointed wordlessly towards the creatures before them, and the spirit of the former King leapt to face them.

_ Dangerous _ , Dennis thought. He hadn’t remembered Reiji having the power of a vessel. The ancient King was adept with a sword, and the chimera’s head was severed from its body in a clean strike, impossible for a human, no matter how strong. He had always heard rumors of the powers of ghosts, never had he borne witness to it.

Yet even as the spirit turned away, its task finished, the head of the chimera crawled forwards, dragging itself back to its floundering body with the red veins skittering out before it like feelers. Dennis narrowed his eyes, knowing that it hadn’t escaped Reiji’s attention either. There was a skitter of claws against stone from behind him, and Dennis drew his own blade, ready to strike- but what was before him was not an enemy intimidating, but rather a dog with broken paws and a squirrel’s tail, tiny wings poking out from the fur of its back. 

“Don’t let it touch you!” Reiji warned, and Dennis kept it at blade length, backing up to join the group, clustered at the base of the stone altar. As they watched, a larger chimera, all sleek black fur with bulging red veins lurched forwards and collapsed upon the smaller, the red of its veins unlacing to dig deep into the smaller chimera. It was consumed with barely a cry, only a tight wheeze as its body was torn apart.

"How horrible," Sayaka said, covering her mouth and stepping back, instinctively up onto the steps towards the altar. Around the edges of Dennis' vision, there was a shifting- not of something moving in the shadows, but of the shadows themselves shifting, warping into a different form- but when he looked, nothing had changed. 

Reiji's King whirled around, sliced cleanly through the new chimera- but the parts of that one too simply scattered from each other and built themselves backup whole. It was then as if the shifting had been a signal- from behind the pillars, crawling out from the shadows were chimera, too impossibly large to have been hiding there in plain sight.

Creatures that could shake off any wound were not so easy to kill- Dennis drew his blade but took a step up the altar, seeing how the chimera slunk as far away from it in the confined space as possible, clinging to the walls.

Again his vision shifted, something he couldn't catch swirling in the corner of his eyes- and when he swept his gaze out over the approaching chimera, Reiji's King batting away those who came too close to the group gathered at the base of the stairs, it seemed to him that there were a few less lurking in the corners than before.

"Rin," he called, waving over to the girl who had just entered, facing the chimera down with blades of wind that sent them toppling in pieces to the ground, "over here!"

Rin glanced up, nodded. She and Yuugo made a dash for the altar, leaping atop it in two great bounds that skipped half the three stairs entirely. Rin's boots hit the altar, and she steadied herself against the sudden stop in momentum- the moment she did, Dennis watched a few more of the chimera melt away, dissolving down into something hidden behind the pillars, almost as if-

Yuugo leapt up behind Rin, and the shift of the world was sharp, dark edges that sliced into Dennis' vision, streaking it black and blind for a moment-

"Watch out!" Ruri yelled, and when the momentary sparks cleared he could see chimera falling down from the ceiling, spindly and spider-like.

Rin threw up her blades of wind, slicing them to pieces and blowing the remains to the corners before they could descend upon them- but at the same time chimera swarmed out in massive waves, crowded together a tight and living mass. Reiji's King knocked a wave of them back with its broadsword, and Shun, Yuuto, Ruri joined them on the steps, above Dennis' choked out "Wait-"

The world flickered around them impossibly, and for a terrifying moment the world went entirely dark, his last glimpse of Reiji's ghost disappearing in a flash of deep blue as the chimera overwhelmed it-

Wind blew quiet past him, and distantly he could feel a whirlwind- and then his vision returned. Chimera were crawling up the steps of the altar, cutting between them and Reiji, who maintained a stable radius between him and the chimera with another ghost he had called forth- and this one too Dennis recognized from his lessons, the humble Knight of Fusion that had risen to marry a Queen, the drifter who had called the wind his home.

He fought with all the grace Dennis had imagined, daydreaming of other things during lessons he had never particularly wanted to attend. But still the chimera had the advantage of sheer number, and the distance between them was increasing as Reiji was forced a step backwards.

"Reiji!" Rin yelled, a blew a the chimera trying to get up the steps back down, shredding them as she went- it wouldn't stop them, but at least give them a little bit of time before they got back up.

"Listen!" Dennis said, yelling over the howl of the wind in that enclosed place- "it's the altar! It  can only hold so many people! If the right people aren't on it, then more chimera appear!"

The group glanced between them; there was no denying the correlation.

"He's right!" Reiji shouted back at them, and the ghost sliced a passageway through the chimera, meeting the space that Rin had cleared with her winds.

"Can you protect everyone?" Dennis asked, and though Reiji did not meet his eyes, he could feel the determination in his answer-

"I'll do what I have to."

"Let me help," Rin said, but Dennis shook his head.

"No," he said, "keep clearing the path, but stay on the altar! Yuugo, take Sayaka and go by Reiji."

Yuugo and Sayaka nodded- the latter more reluctantly than the former- then Yuugo turned and offered his hand to hers. She took it, and the two of them raced down the empty path, wind wild at their backs. The moment they stepped down, a few of the chimera, a few of the stitched together parts of the largest began to vanish, sinking back down into the shadows.

"It's working!" Rin yelled, and the remainder on the altar glanced among themselves. "Who's next?"

Eventually their gazes all settled on Dennis. Ruri ventured- "You were one of the first people on. Who goes?"

_ You all ran on at the same time, is the problem _ , Dennis thought as the remaining chimera surged forwards, forcing Reiji to step back again as his ghost slid back against the weight of them. Yuugo brandished his lance, Sayaka at his back holding out her blade with a brave face. Reiji yelled up at them, his warrior taking a knee even as it continued to bat at the leaping chimera- "Hurry!"

_ If it's tied to the prophecy, then _ -

"Yuuto! Shun!" The two leapt from the platform without a moment's hesitation; Reiji's warrior fell entirely beneath the chimera's weight. He pulled new talismans in the moment of Yuuto's jump, Shun not a moment behind him-

“Come forth and serve me!”

“I’m not your  _ servant _ ,” said the spirit in reply, but Dennis had no time to confirm the new presence before the wave pushed in on him again and the world shimmered strange before Dennis' eyes, like seeing the world from beneath the waves.

And yet. Dennis could see the difference now, the gaps in the person he remembered Reiji to be and the young man that stood before him now. The Reiji of his memory was a controlled existence, calculated and firm, cool but not cold to the emotions of those who surrounded him. The Akaba Reiji before him now was still controlled in his action, but there was a speed about him, a devastating efficiency that spoke to Dennis of a man running out of time. It would explain, he thought, why Reiji had seen fit to ignore Dennis' inconsistent allegiances.

Dennis blinked, losing Reiji entirely, and when he opened his eyes again, the entire space had changed before them.

“This is it,” Rin said, “I can feel it."

The chimera had all gone, as had everyone else- only Rin, wind still thrashing about her, and Ruri, staring up at their new surroundings, remained by his side. The place that they had found themselves in could not have been the real world- in this place red threads crossed the lines between the infinite darkness, their stone platform the only bit of reality left. Dennis glanced over the edge- if they were to fall, he thought, then they would tumble forever, their only hope to one day be caught by the frayed and tattered strings. Vaguely, in that darkness, he sensed another presence. Or two, perhaps three- but it was almost impossible to tell in the way the void swirled endless and enchanting.

"This is like a dream," Ruri said, "but I've never had one like this, before."

Rin slowly approached the center of the altar, gazing out at the lines that crossed the sky. "I think... that maybe I have. A long time ago, or... maybe not yet? I don't really understand but..."

She took a long breath, and the energy about her changed, brought in the strange atmosphere of the unreal world around them.  She said, voice a command that echoed forever in the silence- "Bring me your heart."

Before them stones rose from the black, shaking off the rot that clung to them and forming shallow steps upwards. Red threads knotted themselves together, pulled past them and dragged forth a knotted mass that rested at the top of the staircase. Rin took confident steps towards it, rested her foot on the top step and glanced over her shoulder.

“Doesn’t she need it?” Dennis said quiet to Ruri, and thought that this, too, was an effective enough form of sabotage. 

“Go,” said Ruri, standing her ground.

“Ruri…” said Rin, though her eyes betrayed her.

“You need it!” Ruri echoed, sounding convinced of it, “More than we do. I have one blessing already. If we take the last one, then it’ll be enough."

"But-"

"Take it!" Ruri yelled, eyes burning with a complicated fire. "We can win this without some prophecy! But you need this, don't you? There's only one blessing that can heal the rot. So take it, and don't you dare feel bad about it later, got it?"

Rin turned to face forwards again, ascending the stairs towards that knotted mass. It shivered in time with each step that she took, and when she reached the top the red lines fell away, though what they left her with Dennis couldn't see.

The energy changed as one by one the red bled out and vanished from the world, and one by one Rin's steps crumbled back into the rot as she descended. She stepped gently onto the platform, and again the world began to swim, caught up in the hazy waves- but Dennis could still see clearly the black human heart cradled in cloth between Rin's arms.

* * *

"You're back!" Yuugo greeted them with a bright shout as they blinked away the scales from their eyes. He hovered anxiously at the very base of the platform, obviously wanting to race up to Rin with shuffling feet but refraining. The chimera had all disappeared, and the energy that had pervaded the strange other place, a magic none of their own, had vanished alongside them. Dennis glanced over to Rin as she jumped down to meet Yuugo- but the heart, it seemed, had not.

"So you found it," Reiji said, staring down at the heart, and Dennis cursed the fact he couldn't see Reiji's eyes for the glare on his glasses. The rest of his face was held deliberately placid, Dennis unable to read anything. “Can I…”

“That was our deal,” said Rin, and handed it over carefully. Reiji turned it over a few times moving it carefully in the cloth. Then, noting a small piece carved from the heart, he handed it back over, seemingly satisfied. 

“Find what you were looking for?” Rin asked.

Reiji adjusted his glasses as he replied. “Yes. I believe this will finally help settle an old matter of mine. Coupled with the fact that we met chimera here, I can make a compelling case.”

Chimera. Pieces of shattered hearts created by the dark god of old, rotted through yet still beating with some horrid desire. They should have vanished. They should have vanished, and yet. Dennis glanced around- from the grim expressions on everyone’s faces, they had all come to the same conclusion. Even the eternal sun created at the end of the last prophecy could not have kept away the influence of the dark forever.

"So," Sayaka said, "all that's left is..."

Rin nodded, then led the group out the arches.

The rotted humans were still lingering about the edges of the arches where Rin’s wind had blown them. The group waited behind, let Rin step forwards to face them. Their breath held soft in their lungs, hearts still at their sides. Rin approached them slowly, heart pulsing away wild in her hand, wind whipping at her feet and the leg of her dirty white pants. The former humans grew agitated, and Yuugo shifted his grip on his spear, took a few unsubtle steps forward. 

“Please,” Rin said, offering up a prayer, “return to yourselves.”

Cradled in her hands the heart beat steady, drawing the rot and bones back into silhouettes, black pulling over the bones that settled nearly into place. For a moment the rotted figures stood deathly still, and the weight of failed expectations threatened to crash down over them with the whip of Rin’s wind-

And then a wild exhilaration sparked through the air, sending the fur of Dennis’ heart standing on end and claws slipping from their sheaths. The rot pulled fast from the silhouettes, racing towards Rin pointed sharp as arrowheads. Yuugo cried out, his heart racing towards her in bright silver sparks- but the rot plunged not into her, but into the heart. In Rin’s hands it oozed a sickly grey, then took in the rot, let it sink into the wounds it had created and swallowed them whole. 

The exhilaration faded, the pulse of the world, like the heart, returned to normal. Lying before them were human bodies, pale and still- 

Rin dashed forwards, checked the pulse in their wrists, the steady beating of their hearts in their chests, the rise and fall of their breath. When she turned to them, it was with eyes glimmering with wishes realized. “It works! It really is a blessing!”

Reiji laughed a little, just once and quiet, more intrigued than amused, and Dennis glanced over fast, thinking that he must have imagined it. They moved to join Rin, to gather up the unconscious people and take them into town. 

“You should keep that hidden, from now on,” Reiji said, and Rin tucked it carefully into a pouch at her back before handing it off to Yuugo. The motion gave Reiji pause, and Dennis took note. He hadn’t exposed Dennis, not yet- but anything that he could gain up on him was an advantage in the silent game he didn’t yet know the rules to.

They all lingered outside in the brown, brittle grass a moment more- it was obvious what came next, though it seemed no one wanted to acknowledge it. It was Rin that finally broke the heavy silence.

“I’m sorry, but we need to go back to the city as soon as possible. I wish we could stay and help,” said Rin. Her voice was heavy, as if she really meant it. “I hope you succeed before we get back. But if your war drags out- and I really hope it doesn’t, but... I promise you that we’ll be back.”

“Yeah,” Yuugo chimed in, “by the time we make it back there, I want a tour of Heartland, not Xyz.”

“I’m really glad,” Rin said, taking Ruri’s hand between hers, “that I met you for real.” Ruri clasped her hand atop Rin’s, and she added a little lighter, "And when you come visit us, I'm treating you all to drinks and food and a whole feast, got it? I mean, what’s a champion good for if not that." 

“Yeah,” replied Ruri, “I’m looking forwards to a show sometime. You can introduce us to all of your friends.”

"Thank you," said Rin, and pulled the bracelet from her wrist. "I mean it. So take this."

She held it out to Ruri. "Rin, I can't-"

"Just take it," Rin said with a casual wink, disguising the emotion behind it "I mean, it's just a trinket, right?" She tapped light over her chest. "I have all the blessings that I need right here."

“And here!” Yuugo chimed in, holding up the bag slung over his shoulder. 

“And there,” Rin amended, then tucked the bracelet into Ruri’s hand before she could protest again. “And if you ever need us in the future- ever, I mean it- you come running, okay? Our threads of fate are tied together. When you’re ever in the most need of help, we’ll be here for you.”

“Thank you,” Ruri said, then dug about her pockets a moment before pulling out something, clenched gentle between her fingers. “Here. It’s not fair of me to take a present without giving you something.”

Rin looked as if to refuse; Ruri all but shoved the cards into her hands with a pleasant, “Take them. They kind of remind me of you, too.”

Rin smiled down at them, and Dennis knew it was true; the angular forms of the bells were elegant and brutal.  _ Windwitch _ was a much more accurate description of Rin than Ruri. She said, finally, “Thank you. I’ll treasure these.”

The two girls parted; Rin’s heart shimmered into life with a whinny. 

“I’ll also be taking my leave,” Reiji said from their other side, having judged it an appropriate time to interrupt, “I have an appointment I need to keep in this town.”

“Thank you,” Ruri said, “for guiding us. Without you, we never would have known that this place was here.”

Reiji nodded, then turned, making a graceful exit. Rin and Yuugo leapt atop their hearts, and the rebels yelled them a rousing goodbye, as if the blessing hadn’t been stolen from right below their noses.

“See you again!” yelled Sayaka and Ruri in unison, followed by Yuuto’s plain but poignant, “Goodbye!”

“See you in Heartland!” Shun followed. Dennis yelled, against the chill running up his spine and the feeling of eyes suddenly on his back- “Good luck!”

* * *

They sat down together in a restaurant willing to overlook their planning quiet in a corner, eating on Dennis’ coin and trying to confirm their plans for entering the plains of northern Fusion. Dennis had slid into the chair across from Ruri, Sayaka and Shun at either of her sides and Yuuto at his. Their tones were hushed, and they leaned over the table, unwilling to be overheard.

“It would be better,” Dennis said, “to avoid the pass entirely.”

“Why don’t we just go through?” Yuuto asked, “This one is much closer, and it’s possible that Academia will ambush us in the time it takes to go all the way around. If we want to get to Academia before the first snowfall, we should take the shortest road.”

“I agree,” said Sayaka said, and Dennis and Ruri met her with hints of wide-eyed surprise. While she’d sat on the outskirts of some of their meetings, never before had she offered her opinion so readily. 

Shun chimed in next. “Yeah. What reason do we have not to go through? You thought it was a good idea when we first set out. Why change it now?”

Across the table, Ruri traced a finger around the rim of her empty glass, expression thoughtful. “Because it leaves us in a bad position, right? If Academia was to come down from the walls or something, we’d have no good way of defending from hearts and arrows and the like.”

Shun and Yuuto stared at her. Ruri drew her finger back to cross her arms, leaning back in her chair defensively. “What, I’m just doing what you keep telling me to do. I’m thinking about being fully prepared before rushing into an attack.”

Dennis laughed, a little amused chuckle. She wasn’t wrong. 

“Then all we need to do is be prepared, right?” Shun asked, and Ruri confirmed with a hum. He continued, “Then some of us should go atop the ravine. People with bird hearts or horses. Things that can move fast in case Academia does try and ambush us. I’ll lead that section.”

“That makes sense,” Ruri said, “and let’s keep a contingent of fighters at the back, just in case they try to come at us that way. They can help protect the injured in the middle, and if we can keep aisles in our lines there won’t be a problem if they attack from the front. We’ll catch them in a bottleneck and have extra forces swap in from the back. Yuuto, would you mind?”

“Sounds good to me,” Yuuto said, “but we should establish some signals.”

“Right, we can do that when we get back to camp and start organizing this. Sayaka, can you start getting lists in mind? I’ll need a decent amount of people to help me at the front as well, so keep that in mind…”

“Give her the best,” Shun said. Sayaka bit her lip and nodded, distracted as if seeing the possibilities flashing before her eyes already. The rebels were all caught up in the energy of seamless plans, the thrill of creating something foolproof falling into place.

“What should I do?” Dennis finally ventured, recognizing that he’d been written out of the plan entirely.

A thoughtful hum from Ruri. “How about you help act as relay with Sayaka? Having someone who can move freely between the front and back would probably help a lot.”

“Yes,” Sayaka said, “I think that would be helpful. We can pull Michael or Anna as well, and make sure the messengers are never alone. That way if an emergency does come up, one of them can stay back to help while the other one goes to deliver the message. Kind of like a relay.”

“Sounds good,” said Yuuto, “so shall we finish this off at camp?” He glanced over at the cook, deliberately seated as far from the rebels as they possibly could, counting the handy stack of coin they’d just made in bribe money.

Together they all stood, left the restaurant without a word of acknowledgement. As far as either of them knew, no one had been here, eating at the small table wedged in the corner of the restaurant.

They were halfway down the street when Dennis froze, tapping at his sides, checking his pockets- “Ah, I forgot my coins.”

He could have left them, but it was the remainder of the bribe money, and the last thing the rebels needed was an altercation in this town that couldn’t be wished away with money.

“Want me to go get them?” Shun asked, half-turned to go and retrieve it, but Dennis shook his head. 

“I’ll just take a minute. Go ahead without me, I know how to get back without being seen.”

Dennis turned his back, walked at a not-quite-hurried pace back towards the restaurant. He opened the door, hoping the cook had returned to the back and intending on simply sneaking in and out without notice-

Yuuri was waiting for him in a cramped restaurant, and Dennis could only thank his luck that he hadn’t sent Shun to retrieve his forgotten coin purse. He was sitting on a table pushed up against the rear windowsill, the branches of the tree outside rattling against the frame. The owner and his new coin alike were nowhere in sight.

"That other girl," said Yuuri with a narrowing of his eyes, "who is she?"

So he had been watching- Dennis shrugged, debated about how much detail he needed to go into. "Just some girl from the city. She's gone, now. Took two of the blessings with her. We know the boy with her couldn't be the dragonheart, so I figured it was fine to let her have them."

Yuuri hummed, a strange distance about him. Truly thoughtful. An odd look on him. "Well. I can deal with her afterwards. We have a different matter to attend to. You have the details?” Yuuri asked, already sounding bored.

“Tomorrow we’ll head through the pass. The guards posted atop will be those with hearts that can take the shape of birds or horses. Defenses are along the lines of what was planned for. As long as both sides of the pincer formation move quickly, there won’t be any problem.”

Yuuri smiled, and Dennis could see the sparks about him, his heart trying to pull from him in anticipation of the hunt. “Good. I’ll pass it on.”

Dennis turned to leave, tired of this claustrophobic space, but Yuuri stopped him. “Oh, wait. Tomorrow you’re joining us.”

Dennis froze. His step hit the ground with a very practiced softness. “You think it’s a good idea to have me turn on them in the chaos? Then everyone will be out for me. If any fragments survive, I won’t be able to track them, either.”

Yuuri fixed him with a piercing glare, and Dennis turned, forced himself to meet Yuuri’s gaze.  _ Yuuri _ , he thought, was not someone he needed to be intimidated by. 

After a moment, Yuuri shrugged, hopped down from the table he was perched atop. “Fine. Do as you like. Just make sure you report back to Academia’s base camp tomorrow after the chaos dies down.”

He paused, then- “Oh. And make sure you bring along the Maiden.”

“Why?” he asked, the question out of his mouth before he could stop it. He added, quickly, covering his slip, “There hasn’t been any change with her. She still can’t perform any magic.”

Yuuri’s eyes narrowed down to slits. Dennis wasn’t sure whether to call it contemplative or simply dangerous. He said, slow, “No. She has changed.”

_ Instinct? _ Dennis thought, wondering if vessels called to vessels, no matter how recently awakened. Yuuri continued, forcing the words into an order this time- not their usual dynamic, and it threw Dnenis just enough that he could do nothing but agree. “Regardless. Bring the Maiden. We’ll need her soon.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Dennis said, “But you should go. The others will be back soon. If I’m revealed now, then I won’t have a chance to bring her back at all.”

“You’ll need better than a chance,” said Yuuri without changing his his bland expression in the slightest to reflect the warning- somehow, Dennis thought, that made it all the more chilling.

“Understood,” said Dennis, and Yuuri slipped out the window with a glance that pinned Dennis to the spot, considering how he’d be able to pull a stunt like this off without it all falling apart- it wasn’t dissimilar to learning how to fool an audience, to make them believe in simple acts of magic with nothing more than his own ability and a deck of cards-

“Dennis?” Shun asked, and Dennis turned, having not heard the door behind him open. Shun glanced past him, towards the thrown—open window, and raised an eyebrow. “Enjoying the view?”

With a shake of his head, clearing his makeshift plans out of his mind, Dennis replied, “I can’t find it! It’s a tragedy! I’ve lost all my riches-“

Shun glanced around the room, eyes eventually settling on a small bump nearly the same shade as the fabric of the chair he had sat on. He pointed towards it, and Dennis thanked him by tossing a bronze piece at him, tiny and misshapen, a victim of a trick gone wrong a few weeks prior.

“Generous,” Shun said, but pocketed it regardless, though Dennis couldn’t tell if it was more out of good humour or vague but friendly spite. “Now come on, let’s go.”

Dennis followed Shun out of the room, out and down a ways down the bustling street, where Ruri, Sayaka, and Yuuto were already waiting. As they chattered over that night’s plans, Dennis tuned them out and let himself see them as pieces to a plan again, drawn out step by step. Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow would be the day when each thread finally fell into place.


	18. Interlude I

In truth, this was not an appointment that Reiji wanted to keep. Rather, he thought, it was not one that he should have been forced to keep in the first place. A voice from his childhood called out to him, and Reiji turned. It was the second to last voice that he had wanted to hear, here. Wheeling herself up the street with her usual stubbornness was Sakaki Yoko, Reira following along just behind her.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, trying not to sound too harsh- but he had told her, threw away every shred of his pride as he passed Reira along to her and begged she take them far away from Academia. And yet here they were, not an month’s journey away from the place that had stolen everything.

Yoko must have sensed his displeasure, because she said quickly, “I know. We were halfway to my childhood home in Maiami when this one demanded we go back.”

Reira raced to Reiji’s side, clinging fast to the leg of his pants. Reiji set a comforting hand on their shoulders. “Is that true?”

Reira nodded, sharp and frantic-  _ frantic _ , Reiji thought, thrown off by the emotion, but couldn’t miss Reira’s next words. “I saw it. I saw it.”

Reira paused, dug their hands into the fabric of Reiji’s pants. When they didn’t move to speak again, Reiji prompted, gentle, “What was it?”

“It… was…” Reira said, then squeezed their eyes shut. Beneath Reiji’s hand they began to tremble, and Reiji took a knee, pulled Reira into a reassuring hug. Though slow, Reira eventually responded, and small hands wrapped around Reiji’s neck. After a moment he pulled back, and Reira opened their eyes.

“Brother?” said Reira, and Reiji- Reiji thought he saw a spark behind those eyes, but he couldn’t have been sure, not when it was gone so quickly.

“Yes,” he said, and pat Reira’s head to no response. 

“Reiji,” Yoko said, “It’s so nice to see you again. Reira’s been doing well. Missing you, though.”

“Why are you coming back this way? Surely there was a better way to get the message to me than coming all this way?” he asked, glancing up at Yoko. He hadn’t expected her summons, and while he hadn’t intended to depart from the rebels so early, any news she could bring was more important.

“We had to,” Yoko said, staring over her shoulder for a moment, as if she could see the landscape that they had travelled clear as they day they had been on it. He remembered her atop her heart, the fearsome valkyrie of days long gone, and thought that perhaps she could. “There’s nothing left of the roads we were planning to take. We’d run out of supplies before we ever got close to Old Maiami.”

“The Obelisk Force.” Reiji allowed himself to wonder if those hopeful rebels knew that the Heartland they were working so hard to liberate would be nothing more than a pile of ash and rot by the time they returned, regardless of their victory. They’d perhaps be better off if they lost now, rather than let the devastation continue on.

Yoko nodded confirmation. 

“I need you to keep Reira as far from Academia as you can,” he said, a request repeated more times than either of them could count. Yoko nodded- in this, she was the only person left that Reiji could trust. 

“I know,” she said, in the way of hers that spoke of too much loss for one heart. “I won’t do a single thing that Reira doesn’t want.”

Reiji turned to Reira, and though their hair was pulled up behind their hood, Reiji ruffled it anyways, like old times, hoping to see a smile- but all he got was a faint twitch of lips. “Remember,” he muttered, “as long as you wear that bracelet, you can still live. You’ll be happy. Okay?”

Reira nodded, slow and blank again, and Reiji felt his heart twinge in his chest, taken over quick by anger, swept over again by drive. Soon, he thought, his final move. The bracelet around his wrist gleamed twice in affirmation. He reached down to run his thumb over it, stopped halfway there. A foolish old habit he thought he’d broken.

Reiji turned his gaze to the north, towards the forests and the ports and the island on the sea with pillars of prophecy hanging in the sky over the rocky sea- and in that moment, it was almost as if he could see them all too.


	19. Act VI, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not nostalgia if it's something you never had.

The morning brought with it a frantic energy in the camp- the sensation of motion pervaded, leapt deep into people's bones and refused to leave. Hearts bristled, pricked with anticipation, stalking around their owners with wild eyes and perked ears. And in the center of it all, Dennis was calm, his heart beating a heavy rhythm in his chest.

It was there that Ruri found him- in theory overseeing the packing of the camp, in practice simply watching, waiting. Avoiding thinking about the gorge between the cliffs at his back.

"Dennis!" She called, circling around to face him when he did not turn. She looked tired, but still bright, an energy about her that could not be lost. Her heart sat atop her head, a red-chested robin watching the world with eyes shining. She smiled, and he couldn't help but return it, for the moment caught up in her pace.

“Your turn,” Ruri said, and pressed the silver bracelet into his palm. He thought, for a moment, of pushing it back to her, then thought it would only make him look stranger. He had no reason to decline.

He slid it on his wrist, staring at the contrast of worn leather and sleek silver where both rested against his wrist. "Thanks, Ruri."

"Feeling okay?" she asked, blinking up at him. He met her gaze evenly- perhaps he'd been staring at the bracelet just a moment too long.

"Haven't really woken up yet," he said with a little laugh, without real mirth but tired enough that Ruri seemed to believe it, nodding along.

"Yeah, I haven't really either." She glanced back the way she had came for a moment, then- "Sorry, I have to go back and help Shun out. But let's talk over breakfast, okay?"

A traitor and a thief. Twin titles, he thought. His heart gave a soft meow, having escaped from his chest without his notice; Dennis turned it into a white rabbit with a particularly forceful bit of thought. He started back towards the edge of camp, where Sayaka and Yuuto were ladling out breakfast, leaving it to hop silently behind.

* * *

The gorge was an intimidating thing, a vertical maw with edges jagged and fragile, a beast ready to snap closed on its prey. Ruri and Sayaka led the rebels into it side by side, stalking straight-backed and fearless into the trap. Dennis jogged up behind them, keeping one eye on the sentries posted atop the lip.

"Ruri," he asked, pulling the girl's attention away from her animated chatter with Sayaka, "mind if I talk with you?" Then, a quick aside to Sayaka, whose speech he had interrupted- "Mind if I steal her away?"

Ruri shot Sayaka an apologetic glance. "Yeah, what is it?"

Dennis shifted a little- a certain amount of discomfort was appropriate to show, would only make it more believable in Sayaka's oddly searching eyes. "Sorry, but I think secrets are better kept between two." He inclined his head a little bit, towards the path where the gorge began to narrow. Their sentries were no longer stationed at the top of the ravine- he was running out of time. "Would you mind?"

Ruri flashed Sayaka another glance, shrugging a helpless what-can-you-do to the other girl, still watching them strangely. Sayaka called out after them- "Okay! I'll go to the rear. Yuuto was asking for my help, anyways."

Her words came with a flash of selfish relief. So those two, at the very least, would likely make it out all right. 

As they trotted ahead a while, still silent, Ruri seemed content to follow him- and there was no reason she should feel otherwise, Dennis thought. He had done his job well. They worked easily as a team; she valued his opinion. She trusted him.

Though he knew she was curious, waiting for his words, she said nothing to prompt him, simply walked by his side until they reached the narrow bottleneck. He stepped through it, far ahead of the rest of the rebels, and felt time bear down hard on his shoulders.

"The cliff," he said, "Academia is going to topple it. We need to be on the other side of this."

Ruri said nothing, only watched him with eyes that he could not read. They were too far from his expectations of surprise, of anger, of shock- too far from what they should have been, and too hard to take advantage of.

“Come with me,” Dennis said, holding out his hand. His heart fluttered nervously at his side, a bluebird shifting from shoulder to shoulder.  

Ruri smiled at him then, a sweet fondness marred by the sadness pooling deep behind her eyes. “I’m sorry, Dennis.”

"Ruri-"

“No,” she said. There was no hesitation, no wavering that he could exploit. It seemed, Dennis thought, almost impossibly, that she knew that this was going to happen. Dennis surged forwards to grab her wrist and drag her out of harm's way; she stepped back and drew her sword, fast as he'd ever seen. Before he could react, the point of it was at his throat. She locked eyes with him, and for a moment, he saw her lock away her kindness, let betrayal and anger wash it all away. "Don't you dare."

Overhead came a rumble, the echo of giants as controllers raised them to life. The earth shook with their footsteps. Ruri alone stood perfectly still, unfazed by the world crumbling at her back.  There was no time- Dennis shook his head and turned, ran through the ravine. 

He heard the falcon’s cry, a roar above the screams, heard the shudder of an impact as something slammed into the cliff face. From the top of the cliff Ancient Gear hounds descended, metal claws scraping over rock, chasing down their prey taken off-guard.

He did not look back.

* * *

It was strange, being in one of Academia's camps. He had been in one, long ago- but that had been one returning to Academia, one that had seen war but was not actively participating those many years ago.

Obelisk Force members sat around with faces bare playing card games, their hearts bursting into shape at their sides. Medical staff raced about in dirtied coats that had once been white, directing the injured towards their tents with tired eyes. Students flit around the empty spaces, looking for places to make themselves useful with arms full of supplies. 

It was not so different from the rebel camp, and that made it all the more unreal, coating every interaction with a strange sort of surreality that had his heart flitting about his head, a hummingbird confused.

"Oh," said Gloria, dry, "it's you."

Dennis turned- Gloria Tyler was standing a few feet behind him, having just emerged from a tent. Grace wasn't far behind her, waving as she poked her head out and saw Dennis. After their last meeting, Dennis wasn't sure how to greet them. He settled on an easy smile and scrambled for words, but Gloria beat him to it. "So you did turn on them after all."

"You thought I wouldn't?"

Gloria narrowed her eyes. "I thought you'd do whatever was easiest. I think I’m actually disappointed I was right.”

Gloria turned and stalked away. Grace watched her go a moment, sighing, then shrugged. "She's just mad about our assignment. And that Ed Phoenix got a promotion before us."

"You're with this unit now?" Dennis hazarded a guess, but Grace shook her head.

"No," Grace said, "we're leading a different company. We just came in for orders before heading back into Xyz."

"Other rebel branches?"

Grace shook her head, then seemed to think better of it and shook her head again. "No. Well, yes, that too. Standby.”

“Standby?” Dennis asked, raising an eyebrow. If the rebels remained, they would be in tatters, hardly more than a functioning resistance, at this point. It would only make sense to have Grace and Gloria take care of the remnants. And yet. His disbelief showed clearer than he thought, because Grace nodded.

“That’s exactly what Gloria thought! She said-“ Grace glanced around, lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper- “that the Professor had turned into a senile, distracted old fool, lately. And you know… I kind of agree. Since when has he been the type to let the trouble boil over all the way to him instead of tearing out the roots early?” Grace returned to her normal voice, a little too cheery after the dark edge. “But she’s just been a little more irrigated than usual since I let myself get captured. Maybe it’s rubbing off on me.”

_ Why  _ did _ you let yourself get captured back then _ \- the words were on the tip of his tongue. His grip had been loose, his elbow tense- even if he could have struck, blade to her throat, he wouldn't have. Instead, he asked- "If you hadn't been accepted into Academia, what would you have done?"

Grace's face went wide with surprise, never quite losing that one edge as it shifted into thoughtfulness. She said, slowly, "I never really thought about it. Something competitive, maybe. That Gloria and I would be good at. That card game they play in the capital, maybe?

"What about you?" She added, then added again, "Or do I even have to ask?"

Dennis didn't reply. Grace smiled, taking it as confirmation. She took a step back, in the direction that Gloria had vanished earlier. "I should get going, or else Gloria's going to be mad at me, too. See you back at Academia!"

Grace started down a few steps, then turned again. "Oh! By the way," Grace said, pointing at his chest, "you're still wearing the rebel red."

Dennis' hand went immediately to the ribbon on his collar, a little dirty and tattered but so much part of his usual clothes that he'd forgotten that it was never originally there. He toyed with the edges for a moment, then pulled the edge, watching it unravel, pull loose from around his neck.

He stared at it a moment, splayed out over his bare palm, then scrunched it up and shoved it in the pocket of his pants. An Obelisk Force member still in their mask was approaching him with purpose to their stride. No need to appear sentimental over a foregone conclusion.

"Macfield, sir."

And how it never ceased to be strange having graduates refer to him so respectfully. Dennis nodded; the soldier continued- "Tomorrow command expects you to be on the front with the rest of the Obelisk Force. You're to have a special mission. More orders will be delivered to you shortly."

“I’m a spy, not a front line soldier,” Dennis protested, and the Obelisk Force member shrugged.

“It’s not up to me, sir. I’m just delivering orders. Tomorrow, Hakone. You’ll lure the Heralds of Revolution into the trap.”

"Understood," Dennis said, not without a hint of irritation. Noticing, the Obelisk Force member bowed and swiftly made their retreat. Academia's anger was not a thing to be on the receiving side of.

It was not often that Dennis sought out Yuuri- rather, it was that orders arrived the other way around- but Dennis knew where to find him. Yuuri was standing amongst a group of Obelisk Force, looking subtly annoyed with his situation but dealing civilly with the soldiers before him. Dennis' arrival, however, gave him the perfect excuse to wave them away.

His protest was simple, and instantly understood. “I’m not a soldier.”

“No,” said Yuuri, looking down blankly a moment before a familiar grin broke out across his lips, thin and cold- “But you did learn how to play one. So play.”


	20. Interlude J

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It isn't. Even if it was something you had.

The camp was quiet, possessed by the deathly silence that had overtaken the rebels in the aftermath of the collapse.

No, thought Ruri. That was a lie. Death was never silent.

The moans of the wounded, the muffled sobs in tents where the grieving tried to pretend that another piece of their world had not fallen to the same ruin as their homes. In the far distance, the creaking of the stones as they settled.  _ I’m sorry _ , she thought,  _ I’m so, so sorry. I should have known better. I should have been able to stop this. No one died when we faced the Giants. No one died, because- _

_ Because- _

“Ruri.” Shun’s voice broke through the noise. Ruri started, sending the blanket falling from her shoulders as she scrambled to sit up. He came in as she pushed the blanket aside, trying not to look as if she'd just been huddled up beneath them, pathetic as she felt. She didn't sense any judgement from him, and the harsh comments she expected never came-

His eyes were just as tired as hers. 

"I collected the names," he said, and unraveled the list crumpled in his palm. The list went on for an eternity. Too many names. Too many people she knew. Too many she should have known better.

“And…” Shun’s voice went flat. “And Dennis.”

She didn't know what she felt, then. If there was a name for the emotion that made her stomach drop out, her heart thumping once, painful up against her lungs and sending a horrid shudder through her shoulders, flashing hot then cold, she didn't know it. 

It settled into emptiness. She looked her brother over instead. He had never been so hard for Ruri to read- what expressions were not clear across his manner were clear across his heart. That, even the rebellion could not steal from him. Even now he bared his heart, the eagle at his side watching with deep, bright eyes. Wings that sat uncomfortable, itching for the skies, but not so heavy that it could not take to them.

Those expressions had simply grown more limited in scale. Hope tinged with pain. Determination laced through with tiredness. Moments of happiness tucked carefully to memory with the expectation that they would soon come to an end. It had not, she thought, been quite so blatant, yesterday.

“I hope,” she said, “that he made it through to the other side.”

For a small eternity, Shun did not reply, then- “Yeah. I hope so too.”

* * *

Ruri dreamt.

It was not a usual dream, not a message from a shattered god nor a fragment of another girl’s life. Ruri, in her uneasy, fitful sleep, dreamt of a memory. It went something, dulled by hazy recollection, like this:

On an ordinary day in a place that no longer existed, Kurosaki Ruri was gifted a red dress. It was not particularly well-sewn- (there was a reason, after all, that she had quite literally pried that task out of her brother’s hands one spring afternoon, staring at yet another something salvageable ruined) but it was not a creation in shambles, either.

She had rushed to them, thanked them with words never enough for such a present. There would never be enough words, for something like that.

That dress hadn’t lasted long- cut to scrap, given out to grasping hands desperate to see the world change. To grab on to prophecy and ride its wind until the dawn of a new day. But it hadn’t been lost. Even now Ruri still wore it around her waist, a constant reminder of those old days, of what drove her on-

But those old days were gone. 

She’d chosen to move on.

Ruri, without any circumstance, woke up.

* * *

Eventually, long after Shun had left, Sayaka came back in, holding fresh bandages.

"I don't need them," Ruri said, immediate. Sayaka still came forwards, holding them out instead of a hundred things that she could say. Ruri resumed staring at the shadows dancing at the top of her tent. Sayaka settled down beside her. 

"Your heart took boulders falling on top of it! I think if anyone deserves a change of bandages, It's you."  And of course they were the nicest ones she could have said. The kindest, when the only ones Ruri wanted to hear were the harshest. 

Ruri took a deep breath, resolutely ignored how it sent a shudder of pain through her bruised ribs. She hadn't seen the extent of her injuries before one of the medics had come to bandage her wounds. At this point, she didn't want to.

"I don't need them," said Ruri, pushing Sayaka's hands gently away. "Give them to someone that's actually bleeding. Like you. You didn’t go to the rear like you said you would, and then you got  _ that _ ."

Sayaka rubbed her fingers over the surface of the bandages on her arm. There had been a gash there, filled with dust from the collapse. She had been crying. Ruri hadn’t wanted to see that, not ever. Clearly reluctant, Sayaka said, "If you say so. But I think-"

“I shouldn’t have let her take it,” Ruri said, sudden and harsh, and Sayaka sent her a bewildered glance. 

“You don’t really think that, do you?” Sayaka replied, and of this she was certain. Ruri knew it in the way she spoke, that kindness of hers, soft yet unyielding in its belief.  _ What horrible thing did I do, _ Ruri thought _ , to keep you here with me? _

“I just… If I had taken it, what would I have been able to do? Shouldn’t I be able to do magic by now?” Ruri asked, and buried her head into Sayaka’s shoulder. “Everyone thinks I should, or that I could, and now- and now-“

Sayaka set the bandages aside and pulled Ruri into a hug, her head dropping to rest on Sayaka's shoulder. Ruri muttered, half-lost to quiet sniffles, “I’m not the Maiden.”

“You  _ are _ ,” Sayaka insisted, even as Ruri shook her head. The scent of Sayaka's clothes were river-clean, a rarity. She felt guilt over that, too- she was probably ruining it with the grime still around her hairline, smeared into her skin.

“Even the bracelet’s been-“ Ruri started, hiccupped, caught her breath, started again, “I even lost the bracelet.  _ My  _ bracelet. I’m not the Maiden, and I…I'm not a leader, either. You told me you were worried about him, and I- I-"

Her own words rang back at her, hollow. All she could do was be bitter about her own naivete, disgusted by the blind faith she had decided to place in him, just because he had crashed into their lives and come to call them friends.   _ He's been a good friend to us. I think that we can depend on him. If something happens, then I’ll deal with him. I promise. _

Some good that had done. She hadn’t expected one of Academia’s main forces to ambush them, for them to possess enough power to topple the cliffs entirely. They had seen the Ancient Gears- fought them and  _ won. _ She should have known. She should have-

Sayaka shook her head, took one of Ruri's hands in hers. Though Ruri couldn't look at her, Sayaka didn't seem to mind.

"Ruri. Everyone made it this far because they believed in you. And that's why I'm here, too. Because _ I _ believed in you. And I still believe in you. No one has the power to see the future except Academia's scholars. And maybe that's a power that they shouldn't even have in the first place. You can only do your best to blaze your own fate. I'll follow you until the very end. Every single one of us will."

"Thank you," Ruri said. "I don't deserve it, but thank you."

"Ruri..." Sayaka said, a soft edge to her voice that told Ruri exactly how much she  _ did _ deserve it, for reasons beyond her comprehension. 

Ruri shook her head slowly. "I know, I know. But just... Thank you. Help me look presentable?"

Sayaka nodded, scrambled for their now-shared hair brush. Ruri, hissing against her tender ribs, slowly reached for the washcloth that Sayaka had brought, savored the cold as she dabbed it against her skin. In her mind, quietly forming, were words.

* * *

One by one Ruri stacked up the boxes, one by one the rebels gathered below her, worn and weary as her stone-heavy heart felt, catching constant against her bruises. She climbed atop the boxes. Like the tip of her sword in the ravine, she did not falter against their gentle swaying.

“Rebels!” she called, and her unwavering voice brought them all to silence. “Today we lost. Today we saw the lengths to which Academia will go to have us destroyed and out home back firmly under their control. Know that it was not a failure on your part, but only on mine.”

From below, a few protests- the Maiden, untouchable, brilliant in her command could not have led them into an insurmountable situation- but she silenced them with a wave of her hand. “No. I will hear no protests against this. When you fought, you fought as only the bravest of Knights against a god could have. You are the rebels who have inherited the soul of prophecy.  _ You _ are the ones fighting the war for your Heartland.

“So mourn those who have left us. Gather up their memories, hold fast to their cause, and  _ refuse _ to let your heart break.” The fire of her words caught the stone of her heart and cracked it all away. The wings of her harpy unfurled from her back, dust trailing from the feathers and catching on the wind. Below her the rebels cheered- a promise. 

_ This does not end here. Our battles do not end in death. And Heralds of Revolution or not, our journey does not end without  _ answers.


	21. Act VI, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just a sadness, and a certain sense of shame.

Dennis had grown used to the world set on fire. No longer did the piercing thrums of battle in the air phase him, nor did the smoke taste so bitter. There was no reason for him to fight, this time- he stood back behind the waves, waiting at the outskirts for messengers to call him forwards with the Maiden's whereabouts. Yuuri was doing well to distract the other two, spitting venom through the streets with that particular enjoyment of his, but the Maiden had disappeared halfway through the battle, slipped away to the protests of everyone involved.

When they did call him, directing him fast between the streets, the alleyways that connected them, he moved quiet and efficient, no energy wasted in letting his heart roam as it pleased. He was directed into a clearing, Obelisk Force members promptly leaving his side to rejoin the fray, to come back with red scraps of fabric dyed deep by the blood of their owners. Ruri caught sight of him, clear in the way that their eyes met across the square. He could not read them, the distance too great. He gambled, already sure that he would win.

He turned his back; she chased after him. He ran and she followed, long after the intensity of the battle had faded far into the distance and she should have known to turn back. She never did guard herself well, Dennis thought, then shook the memories away, letting them go before he could think any more on it.

Eventually he ran himself into an alley with no escape, exit blocked with a great brick wall of new construction. Ruri cornered him there, standing imposing despite her stature. Though she was breathing hard, her words came out strong and steady- such a far cry from those first days. Ruri held out a hand. He wondered, for a moment, if he was being mocked. “Come with me, Dennis.”

“I betrayed you,” he said, the scrap of ribbon heavy in his pocket, “No one will take me back, Ruri.”

“They don’t know, Dennis,” she said, quiet and determined, and Dennis’ heart stuttered at his side, the hound’s form growing blurry. “You can still come back.”

Ruri paused, and Dennis drowned in the silence. “I want you to come back.”

“Don’t,” he whispered. The hound whimpered, then disappeared in a shower of gold. His heart beat an unsteady one-two staccato in his chest. 

“Dennis, I-“

“Don’t!” he said again, louder this time, with emotion, this time- but Ruri’s heart was already in Yuuri’s hand, pulsing in a slow rhythm, as if it hadn’t realized yet that it had been stolen from its owner’s chest. Ruri’s eyes faded to dull blank, and she crumpled to the ground in slow motion. Dennis reached out an arm to catch her. Yuuri’s gaze froze him halfway there.

“Good work,” he said, “That may have been your best acting yet.”

Dennis understood the threat. It didn’t stop the shaking of his hands, shoved into his pockets. He knew she hadn’t meant it. Ruri never had believed in hatred and revenge borne of grudges- but there were things that even she could not forgive. He looked down at his hands, dirt under his nails. There was rebel blood on them, now.

“What do we do with-“ he did not stumble- “the body?”

Yuuri glanced down at Ruri’s slumped form. Before he finished his sentence, his gaze was back at the heart in his hand, vines coiling out from his wrist, twisting erratically, a strange, conflicted dance. “Just leave it.”

“And let the rebels have it?”

Yuuri lifted an eyebrow. “And that did them any good with Yusho?”

The wind blew smoke on the breeze. It smelled like the fragrant flames of the funeral pyre. He said, “Fair enough.” 

For a moment Yuuri observed the fallen body, a detached interest and nothing more- and then he leaned down, picking up Ruri’s hand in his. Before Dennis could question him, he had pulled the bracelet from her wrist, green gem shining, and slipped it into his pocket. “One last thing the Professor asked for.”

With that, he turned and left the alley, leaving Dennis to follow behind. He stepped past Ruri, didn’t look back- there was no point.

“Dennis!” came a yell, familiar over the chaos. It was frantic, a little desperate in its anger, accompanied by the sound of shifting wood. At that, Dennis did glance. Shun was scrambling up over the charred blockade, a boy who thought he'd glimpsed hope, not yet realizing that he'd only set eyes on an even greater misfortune. 

_ This doesn't suit you, _ Dennis wanted to say- but time was short for a conversation that he really rather wouldn’t have. He watched as Shun scrambled over the top, waving a hand towards him, as if there was anyone else he could be signaling to. The minor commotion attracted Yuuri's attention, and he felt the shift in Yuuri's magic before even his change in demeanor, the intensity of a hunter who'd sighted prey.

“Ah,” said Yuuri, “something to play with. Our last match was cut short.”

Yuuri’s heart grew from him, splattered black poison across the dirt road as it spread it wings and bared its fangs. Its claws dug heavy into the road as it roared, the sign of the dragonheart echoing over the battlefield. Shun wasn’t foolish. He’d understand the implications immediately- from the way his heart screeched overhead, Dennis wagered he already had. It was no matter. Shun already had some measure of suspicion towards him; he knew that. And Ruri knew it too. Of all the things she was, a good liar was not one of them.

He turned away to that venomous dragon’s roar echoing in his ears.  _ Wait for orders, enjoy the successful job _ . There was nothing more for him here.


	22. Act VII, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shadows settle on the place, that you left.  
> Our minds are troubled by the emptiness.  
> Destroy the middle, it's a waste of time.  
> From the perfect start to the finish line.  
> -Youth (Daughter)

The Rebellion didn’t end.

They had cut off the head but the body did not flounder- instead of blood, a vengeance like fire surged through the veins of the Resistance. They claimed town after town, pushing further into Academia-controlled territory. For every city they took, Academia’s armies razed one of Heartland’s.

That too only served to temper their resolve.

It was so unlike Yusho’s, its participants lost and scattered to the winds after the loss of their leader.  _ Why, _ Dennis wondered, tailing the Rebellion in wait of orders that had yet to arrive. Why did they possess such an indomitable will?

The rebels had taken shelter in a dilapidated castle, old and abandoned out in the countryside of Fusion for a much newer keep up the stream. He prowled about the castle, looking out at the landscape below the burning orange sky. They were drawing closer to the ocean with every day that passed, and Dennis fancied that he could hear the familiar sound of waves breaking against the shore as before his eyes, a great chasm opened up on the distant horizon.

Dennis blinked away the sunspots clouding his vision, turned towards the broken castle wall. If he was going to waste time tailing the rebels, Yuuri's voice echoed in his mind,  _ you might as well bring back something useful. _

It wasn't hard to find the rebels speaking, hushed and away from the main area of the castle, where the leaks had not yet formed in the roof and ruin had not yet staked its claim on the sparse and patchwork furnishings. Dennis set himself firmly outside the exterior window, listening to the voices waft out.

“So all we need to do is find her heart.” Yuuto’s voice. 

“It’s the start.” A voice, not quite so familiar. Reiji. Impossible to read as always. So he'd found a path with the rebels again- Dennis noted it down carefully, wondered what had happened that his business had run so short.

“The start?” quiet, not without a certain force. Sayaka. So she’d been the one welcomed into the shattered inner circle. Dennis wished he could say that he was surprised.

A brief silence. The shadows flickered long through the window as someone shifted inside. Then, Reiji’s answer- “It would have to be returned to her soon. Without a heart, the body begins to decay. Slower than the dead, but within two weeks it’ll be no better than a corpse. She may get some leeway for being part of the prophecy, but no more than that.”

Dennis turned from the conversation gone silent- he had heard all that he needed to. So the rebels had finally come to the same conclusion that Sakaki Yoko had, holding the tattered remains of her husband’s revolt.  And Reiji...  _ If you know, then why are you still helping them? _

He made his way through the deserted castle halls instead, searching for the one last person he needed to see. The hall was overgrown with vines, their broad leaves swaying gently in some imperceptible breeze. Most doors were covered with it, only the low gleam of their handles indication that there had once been an entryway there. She wasn't hard to find- it seemed, Dennis thought, opening the only other door in the hall free of foliage, that the rebels were loathe to wander to far from her. 

The door swung open to perhaps the only room of the castle that still retained some modicum of its former glory. A moth-eaten tapestry embroidered with the lightning of a noble crest hung from one of the walls, and a black and gold throw covered most of the stone floor. In the center was an old wooden bed, sturdy and draped in white that had long since yellowed to a sickly color. It matched the girl atop it perfectly. He gazed down at Ruri, loose hair drawing waves over the bedspread, curled his hands into fists and struggled with his limbs abruptly gone stiff. There were words rattling through his thoughts, lingering at the tip of his tongue, though he did not know what they would be until he said them-

He was pushed back against the wall roughly, a knife digging into his throat with a cold burn as it broke the skin. “Kurosaki,” he said. The name was old and rusted on his lips. It tasted like rot.

“Where,” Shun hissed, “is my sister’s heart?”

Dennis chuckled hoarsely, unable to help himself. The blade pressed deeper, and Dennis winced, feeling thin lines of blood trickle down to his collar, dyeing it the red of the Resistance. “Tell me. I won’t hesitate to kill you if you don’t.”

“If I knew that,” Dennis replied, “Do you think I’d still be following you around, watching her die?”

The bird perched on Shun’s shoulder ruffled its stone feathers. Dennis wondered how Shun had the determination to even keep his heart moving, let alone support its weight. Shun raised his voice. “You traitor. If you lay another hand on Ruri, I’ll-“

Something snapped. “I’m not going to hurt her, Shun!”

He moved fast, knocking away the arm pressing the knife to this throat away in a reckless blur of motion, shoving Shun backwards a few steps. The bird on Shun’s shoulder dropped to the ground with a cry. Shun clutched at his chest, momentarily thrown off balance.

Dennis created distance between them fast, making for the window on the far side of the room. Then again, softer- “I’m not going to hurt her.”

Shun dragged himself back to his full height and laughed, a bitter, ugly thing. “You already have.”

Dennis began to retort; Shun cut him off, sharp and cutting where his blade had not. “And  _ ‘you won’t hurt her again?’ _ Nothing you could do would hurt her now. You might as well have murdered her with your own two hands.”

He could say nothing, only face the brunt of Shun's justified rage. Shun scoffed, a derisive snort. He scooped his heart up from the ground, cradling the eagle and its chipped stone flights.

"Get out before I kill you."

Dennis turned, leapt through the open window before Shun could think to raise his blade again, to send his heart tearing after him with talons still glinting low in the evening light. That wasn’t a resolve he was willing to test.

* * *

It was twilight- it had always been twilight, the sun frozen low in the sky, dying the horizon in the bloody color of Ruri’s heart. Yuuri hung closer to him than ever before. Delivering orders, he always said. Looking for signs of sentimentality, more likely. Whether for Academia’s instruction or his own amusement, Dennis didn’t know. He kept everything cold and professional regardless.

It was what was expected.

“You made contact again,” Yuuri said. Dennis didn’t bother trying to deny it. Whether Yuuri had been following him that day or he had simply intuited, Dennis didn't know. There was no point in trying to guess. “Lead them to us.”

“They don’t trust me,” Dennis replied.

Yuuri smiled without warmth. “Then make them. Remember. That’s your job, isn’t it?”

That too, Dennis could not argue.

But still, he thought. They would not trust him again. Anything lesser, perhaps, and they would have forgiven him. Anything lesser, and perhaps they would have listened to a fantastical story about blackmail and regrets and the useless apologies come too late. He knew nothing he could say would make them trust him- but a bargaining chip sprang to mind, an echo of the past he had nearly forgotten. And once he remembered, he wondered how he could have ever forgotten, let the memories grow so hazy-

It was the place where everything had begun.

* * *

The rebels moved at a near-frenzied pace- now that they were aware they had a time limit, they raced down the trail towards Academia, chasing that distant ocean. They wouldn't make it. Even assuming that the entire rebel camp could move on horseback, it would still take them near three weeks to reach the ports of Northern Fusion at a breakneck speed- but without a horse relay, it was impossible.

The rebels knew that just as well as he- after all, Dennis thought, slipping into the rebel camp between perimeter patrols, he was the one who gave them the travel information in the first place, confirmed kingly by Grace in those long ago days. Perhaps they were driven blind by desperation, perhaps they thought that his words, too, had been a lie, carefully crafted in advance- either way, it didn't matter. It didn't change the fact that, if they wanted Ruri to survive, they were going the wrong way.

He found Shun outside, practicing his forms with strokes far too vicious for training. Strike after strike, slash after slash. Dennis wondered if he was imagining anyone in particular, then decided rather immediately that he'd rather not know.

"Your form’s gotten better, Kurosaki! You might almost be a match for-”

Shun spun on the spot. Dennis bit down his final  _ me _ , announced himself with a friendly smile not-quite sincere and a wave, slow and open palmed, weaponless. The tip of Shun’s sword was at the hollow of his throat in an instant.

“Give me one reason,” Shun said, voice low and dark, “not to kill you where you stand.”

Dennis smirked, Academia-cold seeping from the seams. “I found out.”

Shun’s hand faltered.

“I found out where Ruri’s heart is.”

“That’s not enough.” Shun hissed, bringing the tip up to Dennis' throat again, “It’s not enough. If we can’t keep Ruri alive, then…”

He didn’t have to think- a detour or two wouldn’t matter much to Academia, so long as the end result was the same. “I know that, too. I can show you where to take her. It isn’t far.”

Dennis stared Shun down. Shun glared back with a fierceness that Dennis knew he didn’t feel. Hope was always too light an emotion, on him. Shun said, “Tell me now.”

“No.”

The tip of the blade, pressing into his neck. “Why not?”

Dennis smiled. It was easy, the expression a little dark. “Because if I tell you,” he said, letting the bitterness fall into his words, stain them in that darkness, “then you’ll run off to try it now. It won’t work, and the both of you will just end up dead. And who's going to lead your rebellion then?”

Again, that faltering. Again, that surprise that Dennis was telling the truth. He shouldn’t be so taken aback, Dennis thought, to realize how much that hurt. He said, “I do care, you know.”

Shun lowered his sword. “I wish you didn’t.”

Dennis just shrugged, then looped the red ribbon back under the collar of his shirt, tying it tight back into its bow. "Fair enough."

* * *

Though they had no formal announcement of his return, walking with Shun though the camp like the old days was enough. The Rebels of Heart treated him like a man risen from his grave. Shun bristled at his side as the crowd around them grew, whispering with wide, wondering eyes. They both knew that Dennis was the person least deserving of their awe. His heart thumped uneasily, trapped in his chest.

The boy with an aura of loss and the blade for a heart stepped up to Dennis again. “You made it back.”

Dennis nodded. “I came back.”

His words, whispered back to him- _ he came back. No one came back, but he did _ .

They watched him, crowded behind his steps and reached out to brush the fur of the tabby heart he had forced out, as much as mask as anything- his heart leapt neatly out of the way of every touch, and he resolved not to think about the shudder down its spine. He’d do what he had to do. As he had done before.

* * *

The first thing they did was call a meeting- Dennis, Yuuto, Shun, Sayaka, a handful of the rebels that had worked their way into the greatest of favor.

“Reiji isn’t here?”

Shun glared- so he’d given away that he’d been spying on their meetings. Dennis met it with a dismissive stare that Shun doubtless took as a challenge. It was nothing he hadn’t been doing since long before his actions took completely to the shadows. “No. He’s escorting someone.”

_ Someone? _ Dennis thought to try and pry more answers out of him, but Yuuto called the meeting to attention and he tucked it away, a thought for later. Akaba Reiji and his motivations were a question for later, still.

Yuuto called him up, and he was without a script for an intricate story he’d have to weave. But it was of no matter. He thought of it as a show- an act, the same as he'd always done. It became, suddenly, not so difficult to say exactly what was needed. Like this, words had never been so hard to find- not when he did tricks and sold them as magic.

“I was held in Academia,” Dennis said, with utter confidence. The gathered rebels nodded, gasped. A few averted their eyes. “I know the layout of the stronghold and can approximate their forces inside.”

He gave numbers without thinking too deeply about it. If the Rebellion managed to make it to Academia's keep, there was no way they could enter. And even if they could, the defensive capabilities of the keep were far greater than the already reduced meagre offense of the rebels. With every word he spoke, every figure he noted, he could see a little spark of that hope start to fade, still too marked by the tragedy of the ravine. “But you won’t be able to reach it in time to take back Ruri’s heart.”

And here- and here he could break it, if he wanted, or fan it into brilliant, blazing life, all the colors of the twilight.

"But I know the place where we can create a miracle. The place where we can still save Ruri."

The assembled rebels broke into frantic whispers among themselves. He could hear their questions-  _ where when how is it even possible _ \- and wracked his memory for the fading answers, lost the moment that he ceased searching, as if torn from him by an outside force. He grasped it, pulled hard the details into his memory. Distant, the sound of childish laughter, torn isolated from his memories of light from between the trees.

"It’s possible. There's a forest not far from here. About halfway to Academia. Only the chosen few can enter, but it's a place where any kind of miracle can become reality." It was half a lie, but the words brought back a life to the room that sparkled and jumped from rebel to rebel, a tentative hope that couldn't be contained.

“Then you should lead,” said Yuuto, and Dennis glanced at him, disguising sharpness with surprise. He searched for the hints of challenge, the inevitable sign that Ruri had confided in him. That Shun had raged after the battle of that twilight. There was nothing. He always had underestimated Yuuto. A willful oversight, straying away from the unpleasant truths he might find there.

He said, “I can’t do that. I only just escaped. There’s no…”

Yuuto pressed further. Dennis couldn’t help but wonder just what he knew. Yuuto had always been a much better judge of character than Ruri, too trusting, or Shun, too wary. It was unlike him to be blinded by desperation. Not about things he knew.

“At least until the forest,” Yuuto continued. "After that, we'll negotiate. But you were already leading alongside us. I see no reason not to make that official, now."

Shun narrowed his eyes, apparently equally confused by Yuuto's ploy and covering it up with anger in the only way he could express it without causing a scene. No need to let everyone know that they were placing their hopes in an unrepentant traitor. The assembled rebels urged him on, still taken in by the image of a savior.

_ Put me in a situation where I can’t refuse _ . Dennis smiled, not without hint of bitterness. This was not such an unfamiliar position, for him. “Then I suppose I’ll have to accept.”

* * *

It took Dennis a few days, but after a few hours of managing the affairs of the camp- or rather, assisting Sayaka with the affairs- he began to see why Yuuto had handed over the position. It wasn't a ploy, or some sort of foolishness- it was simply a punishment, in the way he knew would work best.

The rebels would thank him honestly, would turn to him as they had done before. Asking favors, questions- giving faint praise for his imagined resilience at being held by Academia. He accepted it all with a hollow smile, and thought that he would have rather had their scorn. 

"Ah," said Sayaka, pausing over a set of red cloth bracelets, "these... these were Anna's. They were all we could find. She always wore a pendant with a memento on it, but…”

They couldn’t find it. There were too many things that they couldn’t seem to be able to find, these days. Dennis flipped through the list of names and signatures, looking for that of the girl in question. A quick glance down revealed her full name, age, hometown, relatives- a neat, compact little snapshot of a person who had died. 

(Because he had passed on the information. Because he hadn't been prepared to face the consequences of warning the rebels of just what Academia had planned that day. Because he-

He had just done his job. What had to be done, for the sake of the prophecy. For the sake of-)

"She wrote that she has a little brother. I've never heard of the town," he said, flipping the board so that Sayaka could see it.

"Oh, I know it. I... I know it well. I'll make sure these get to him." Sayaka folded the bracelets into neat squares and tucked them into her pockets, away from the three piles they'd worked out-  _ trash, reuse, send home _ \- and though Dennis lifted an eyebrow, she had already turned back to the remaining items.

It was a swift dismissal. Dennis didn’t think about it long. In a way, he was glad for it- it was much closer to what he had imagined.

* * *

They made swift progress towards the forest. It was a road that Dennis was familiar with, that he had paid a special sort of attention to the first time around. Though Shun was still clearly angered by Yuuto's choice to keep Dennis' secret, it seemed that, at the very least, he couldn't fault Dennis' skill navigating them through the rocky paths leading up to the forest.

He used the map when the roads forked into two near-identical paths, but for the most part, he navigated the labyrinthine trails through landmarks and memory alone. Still, the roads were long and winding, the uneven terrain difficult to cross even on the best of days, nevermind when the wind howled through the crevices of the trails or the earth shook under their feet, increasing in intensity with each day that passed. Even as the forest drew into sight they were forced to stop for the eastern twilight around a small wooden cabin that the rebels leaders quickly commandeered for their own use. 

Dennis went to help Sayaka set up camp for the night, knowing that they’d have to scatter amongst the caves and rocky outcroppings, but Sayaka shook her head and waved him away with a muttered, “You know how to save her. Go make the plan.”

Her tone was horribly brisk; Dennis began to wonder what he had done to offend her so. Of all the people to know, he hadn’t imagined that it would have been her. Still, he nodded with a pleasant smile and turned back towards the cabin, leaving her to it.

When Dennis slipped inside, he cringed away from the conversation. It was inevitable that it would come up eventually. In fact, Dennis thought, it was something of a small miracle that it hadn’t come up in discussions sooner.

“We should get the last blessing.”

Shun and Yuuto sat across from each other at the table, map and plans spread between them. Dennis settled down off in the corner, the shadows deep around him.

“You really shouldn’t,” Dennis called over, immediate and light enough to come off as friendly, low enough to be a threat, though he meant it mostly as the former.

“Shut up, Academia,” Shun snarled without turning his shoulder.

“I’m warning you,” Dennis said, trying for carefree and hitting somewhere closer to a particularly resigned sort of vicious. “That isn’t a good idea.”

Shun stood from the table abruptly, his chair screeching across the wood then rattling out behind him. “I’m done. You deal with him, if you want his opinion so much.”

Shun stalked out of the room, the door slamming shut with an echo that bounced through the room. They both watched him go a moment, listening to the silence. Yuuto sighed, waved Dennis over to the table. He went, slid into the chair that Shun had abandoned.

Yuuto waited one final moment, then said, “Let’s say that we go after the blessing, and that either Shun or I manage to take it.”

_ Not likely. Since neither of you are the heroes of the prophecy _ , Dennis did not say. He meant it only as truth, knew they would be unable to see it as anything but pointed jab. “That means you get one step closer to completing the prophecy. Once you take it to Academia, you'll probably complete it."

_ I won't let you _ , was left unspoken and mutually understood. There was no need to challenge the validity of it, not in their eyes. 

“And then? What happens?” Yuuto asked, with an acquired edge to his voice that Dennis knew meant that there would be no lies. “What happens if we succeed?”

Dennis closed his eyes a moment, tried to summon up that childhood memory of the night sky. “The moon rises.”

“And what does that mean?”

Dennis didn’t bother to ask if Yuuto was sure he wanted to know. At this point, it would only be an insult to his intelligence. “The end of the world.”

Yuuto paused, staring at him with mouth slightly agape. He blinked slow, then said- "What do you mean, the end of the world? The prophecy doesn't say a thing about that. No one would read it and think that it was about the apocalypse."

"The Professor showed me, Yuuto. I saw what happens in the future."

He could practically see Yuuto's thoughts as they raced across his face in quick flashes of emotion- disbelief, careful consideration, rejection, consideration again- he knew exactly what to look for, after all. "If it's the future, then-"

"One possible future," he said and Yuuto urged him to go on with a nod- "I can't see the threads. I only know what I learned from Academia's lessons. But the line that determines the fate of the world isn't a single thread. It's made up of all the possible futures of all the heroes of prophecy. And the threads that you're on now- they lead to that future."

A long breath, then Yuuto went silent. Dennis followed suit, knowing that he had revealed too much and only praying that Yuuri hadn't been lurking. That he had been off destroying a village, somewhere, far away from this misguided conversation.

Outside, the wind howled, and tree branches rattled against the window. The perfect atmosphere, Dennis thought, for their dismal conversation. The noise seemed to trigger Yuuto to action, and he said- “We can’t tell Shun.”

“Too late.”

The two turned, startled- neither had heard the door open. Shun stood in the open doorway. Dennis wondered if he had ever left, or if he had been standing outside, listening the entire time.

“Where is it?” Shun asked, turned to Dennis. "The last blessing."

_ I don’t know why you expect me to know this, _ he wanted to say, refrained.

He already knew where. It was not like the first time, when Academia had all but handed over the location, or the second, where Ruri's dreams and the strange child had ascribed to him something he never had-

This was instinct.

“Academia,” he said, “the central tower. We’re searching for the moon.”

“Then we’re heading there anyway,” Shun said, that determination about him again. "And we'll find a way to do it without the world ending. If that's even true."

_ I know it is,  _ thought Dennis, returning Shun's glare with one of equal intensity, then offset it with a smile. Shun only scowled harder and turned away with a frustrated noise. It turned Dennis' smile that much more genuine.

"It's true. If I wanted to lie about it, I would've lied the moment we met." Shun started to say something, but Dennis barged on, taking up the conversation space the same way he put himself up on stage. “If there's anyone who knows a way to do it, it's the Priestess to the God of the Heavens. One of Academia’s greatest treasures, and the one who hands down the prophecies and the star charts for the Professor to make meaning of.”

Yuuto scrawled the information down. “Can we get her on our side?”

Dennis shrugged. “I’ve never met her. Most people aren’t allowed to.”

“So it’s a shot in the dark.”

“But it’s the best thing we’ve got,” Shun said, with an air of finality about it. 

“There is one more thing,” said Yuuto, and both Shun and Dennis turned to stare at him. Yuuto hesitated, suddenly, glancing away from them towards a patch of empty air between them. A shot of alarm raced through Dennis, and his heart sank claws into his chest. He fought not to hiss, wondering if Yuuto had caught on to his lie- that there would be no salvation found at Academia save a blessing already claimed-

“When we arrive in the port town, Reiji arranged to have a few sympathetic ships take us to Academia. It’s just going to be a matter of finding them.” He cast a pointed glance at Dennis, who nodded.

“I’ll be able to take care of it,” he said.

Shun snorted. “As long as Academia doesn’t tell you not to.”

“Oh,” said Dennis, “don’t worry. They want you there. They’re practically inviting you in.”

They left him alone, then, Yuuto dissolving the argument before it could truly begin, turn into something vicious and biting that drove them to tear at each other for reasons dark but perfectly justifiable. It wasn’t long before the door opened again. He assumed Yuuto, was surprised to see Sayaka step into the room.

“Sayaka?” he asked, but she didn’t reply, instead walking over to him stiff, a different emotion on her now.

“ _ I know what you did, _ ” Sayaka hissed, leaning down, dropping her voice low.

“Know what?” Dennis said, protesting only for the sake of finding out who or what had given him away. 

Sayaka glowered down to him, and the expression looked so foreign on the quiet girl that, for a moment, Dennis thought he would have failed to recognize her, had he seen her from afar. “What you did to us in the gorge! After that, I… I…I told her that I was sorry. That I didn’t make her believe me, that you weren’t on our side. And do you know what she said?”

No. He could guess that he didn’t want to hear it.

“She said, ’I know, but I want to believe in him.’ And now she’s like this. We’re lucky that we even got Shun back alive after the venom dragon attacked him.”

“That’s why his heart-“

Sayaka shook her head, and the sharpness of it, the sheer emotion that welled up from the spring of it for the motion cut him off. “No. That’s just the heartbreak.”

She turned on her heel then, left without another word. He couldn’t even wonder if that was the way she had intended to have the conversation go. It didn’t matter- in the end, it was exactly the effect she had wanted. Of that he was sure.


	23. Interlude K

Reiji sat on a boat clinging low to the waves, watching as his breath fogged beyond his glasses, staining the island before him briefly in white mist- a precursor to the snow soon to fall. Reiji pulled the red of his scarf up a little higher with his free hand, squeezed Reira’s with the other. The cold metal of Reira’s bracelet brushed the outside of his wrist and Reiji stifled a shiver that raced up his bones, down his spine. This was not how he had intended this to go.

In his mind things had flowed much more smoothly, fallen into place like puzzle pieces, picture unknown to everyone but him. Again and again, reality had not found itself so kind. Entrust Reira to Yoko. Send the heart away. Let the beat at his wrist guide the heroes’ way-

Except the champions of the city were not the ones seeking the prophecy, and the beat of the false pink diamond beneath his fingers where he’d begun to fiddle with it couldn’t stave off his misfortune. Reiji glanced down at his wrist, dropped his hand from the bracelet. An old habit, he thought, that he should have given up long ago.

That he should have given up, he thought, unable to stop, the day he’d stolen it out from under the Professor’s nose.

It had been the day that he had snuck himself into the inner chambers of the Akaba manor, bracelet moved from cold perch to the warmth of his pocket. It had been the day on which his escape plans were to have culminated for the second time. He’d factored in it all. Himika and her red stone, the Obelisk Force outside his door, Leo and his elusive heart-

But it had also been the day that Reira had stumbled dazed from the crafting chambers that their father so often frequented, straight into Reiji’s arms. Reiji had pulled Reira into his arms, deep blue sapphire of a strange new silver bracelet brushing against his wrist, and glared up at the Professor, looming behind.

“What have you done to Reira?”

He had never loved Leo, not in the way that the stories told him  that sons should respect their fathers. Perhaps because he had always been the  son passed over, the one born without the talent every Akaba was supposed to have  in their hearts and sights, perhaps not. But he couldn’t remember truly hating  his father either- not until that moment, when it burned through him bitter and  stinging and furiously, violently  _ calm _ .

Reiji gathered Reira up more firmly into his arms, stood to look  his father in the eyes. Leo met him with a cold stare. “I asked you a question.  What have you done to my little sibling?”

“It’s none of your concern. Reira is fine.” Leo looked down at him  with eyes that Reiji couldn’t recognize. Even his father at his most distant,  his most disappointed in his magic-less son, had never looked so outright  dismissive of him, so pitying of his supposed ignorance.

No more. Reiji turned and left. Though he rolled a talisman in his  hand, the proof of his contracts with the ghosts of his ancestors, Leo made no  move to stop him. The door slammed behind him. Though Himika shouted after him,  her words were muffled through the heavy door, and he paid them no mind. Knight  or thief, he no longer cared- before him was his goal, and he would let nothing  else stop him.

But travelling the country a thousand times over was impractical  with the dead-eyed Reira with him. Though it pained him to leave Reira behind,  he found the only person he could trust- Sakaki Yoko, spared her life by  Academia on the account of the heartbreak long since settled in, and entrusted  them to her.

He made fast for Heartland, scouring anywhere, everywhere. The  town that he had visited with the cavern took one look at his face and turned  him away. He supposed he could not blame them. It was then that he stumbled  upon the tower, the second bracelet on his wrist oddly insistent on his  stopping there.

And if Ray could be a hero of prophecy- if that was what made her  so special-

“Come on,” he said, pulling out a newly-carved talisman, one with  the moon and stars and a constellation whose name had long since been forgotten  carved into its surface in one hand. In the other he pulled out another, from  which spilled the delicate curl of rose blossoms and beneath their garden of  thorns. “I know there’s a blessing here. So bestow it upon me!”

The ritual was a strange sort of old magic, one that required  nothing like the gifts that the gods had bestowed upon the knights and their  lines, or the vessels of the modern age.

The chant rolled off his tongue easy and fluent in a dead language  as a man could be, carrying with it a power that not even a god could resist. A  contract, an exchange of powers.  _  I will let you roam further than any ghost  _ _ could dream, _ said the contract,  _ so  _ _ long as you answer my call for your power. _

There was nothing.

“Of course,” Reiji muttered, clasping his wing bracelet to his  skin before pulling it off, dropping it in the groove of the box that had been  made for it. “Of course.”

Reiji turned and left it there. If there was any luck for him left  hiding amongst those invisible red threads, he hoped that whoever claimed the  blessing would at least take the bracelet. If it had part of his fate tucked  away within it, he thought, then perhaps that meant their paths would cross  again.

_ And how we did _ , thought Reiji, and shook himself away from the memories. Academia was looming close before them. Never before had the steep hike up from the docks seemed so intimidating- but the waves broke hard against the dark rock, and Reira sat so motionless beside him, even as the boat fought hard to stay steady against the ocean.

“I’ll protect you,” promised Reiji, “I’ll return things to the way they’re supposed to be.”

At his side, Reira just blinked, just breathed.

“I’ll protect you,” Reiji repeated as they disembarked, as they started up the trail, as Reiji slipped a talisman into his hand.

(Reiji hit the ground hard. Foolish, he thought, to think that the Professor was a man who would listen to reason any longer.)


	24. Act VII, Part 2

“This is it,” said Dennis, leading them into the forest without a moment’s hesitation, “the forest where we’ll save Ruri.”

Dennis glanced over his shoulder- Sayaka clung close to Yuuto, hand pressed tentative into his sleeve. Beside them walked Shun, Ruri gathered up in his arms. He looked away, turned towards the scenery before them.

The forest was thick and ethereal, the rays of twilight catching the gentle greens and browns of the trees as it filtered down through the canopy. It seemed to go on forever, the wind rustling the leaves overhead gentle and with a soothing sound.

It could have been serene, if not for the utter lack of  _ life _ .

There were no birds to sing in the trees, flitting from branch to branch, no rustle amongst the roots of the trees, rodents scurrying about their burrows.

The grass that was trampled beneath their feet gathered itself back up with an elasticity that no natural being could possess. A bright green leaf fell from the trees above, fluttered soft to the ground. It rested there for a moment, then dissolved in a burst of shadow. When Dennis looked up, it was falling gently on a breeze that didn’t exist once again.

It reeked of old memories, of the earth after the rain and the taste of the air after a thunderstorm.

There was no one left beside him. Dennis turned, listening to the crunch of dirt and gravel beneath his feet as he scanned for any of the rebels- but there was nothing save the quiet emptiness of the forest. 

” _ We have to all hold hands,” _ rang an old voice, childish among the fallen leaves,  _ “Or else we’re all going to get separated!” _

The phantom sensation of a hand in his, small and warm-

_ “And you can’t let go! If you let go, then…” _

“The forest takes you,” Dennis finished. He had forgotten the games that the forest liked to play. Foolish of him, to have forgotten- this time, there would be no one here to save him. Dennis glanced ahead, up the path that curved softly, seemingly without end.

He took a step forwards. 

The forest met him there. Another step. The forest swallowed him whole.

* * *

“You are a Knight,” Yusho often said, “one of the brave Knights of Maiami and the order of Pendulum.” They were hollow words, echoing a prophecy that would give the children strength in an era that would sooner see them dead than happy.

But they had loved it, all of them. 

Dennis had happily batted his wooden sword against the heap of tree bark that Gongenaka called a shield, while Yuuya and Yuzu had matched blows with the sturdiest sticks they could find at their side. They had hung attentive on Yusho’s every word, and run off to play Knights and Prophecy in the meadows behind camp the moment he set them free. 

“I’ve  _ always _ been Yuuya’s protector,” said Gongenzaka in response to an argument that had begun long ago, and Dennis stuck out his tongue.

“You have to learn how to use a sword to be a knight,” Dennis replied. Gongenzaka shoved him back with his shield as Dennis laughed.

“You can both be Knights,” Yuuya said, looking between them and trying to find a good opportunity to jump between with his worn-down wooden sword.

Yuzu hit him gently on the back with her own stick. “No fair! I don’t want to be the villain!”

Yuuya just groaned. “Okay, then I-“

“No!” the other three yelled, all at once. Yuuya just stared between them, looking entirely wide-eyed and hopeless. And then, all at once- they laughed, giggles that slipped fast into hysterics that even Yuuya couldn’t help but join in.

* * *

Yuuya had left so many things behind. His father had swept them up fast from home, giving them time to gather up only what they could carry on their backs before suddenly they were gone, travelling back to a true home that Yuuya couldn’t say he remembered. But he supposed he had gained things, too. Never before had he had quite so many friends his age. Just one friend, before. A best friend, but-

Yuuya tried not to think about it long. It always made him a little nervous, a little scared. And when he felt that way, his father always told him to smile, instead. So Yuuya tried not to think about it, and smile with all his new friends, instead.

When they played Knights, they always elected to make Yuuya Prince. Part of it was because it was his father who was leading the revolt, but mostly, it was because he had told them his last home was a castle, once in passing, and no one had quite been able to let it drop.

“And the hero-prince-knight Yuuya defeats the evil magician and saves the Princess!” Yuuya said, jabbing his stick sword into Dennis’ chest. He fell to the ground obligingly while Yuuya took Yuzu’s hand and pulled her into a hug, pretending to be overjoyed at saving her at last. Mostly, he just thought that Yuzu gave good hugs. Not too tight, not too relaxed. 

On the ground, Dennis said, not quite a whine, “Why do I always have to play the villain?”

Yuuya shrugged, then pointed at Gongenzaka, who had also fallen to the ground, having taken a fatal blow for Yuuya not a minute earlier. “Ask Gongenzaka if he wants a turn.”

“No, I don’t,” said Gongenzaka, still otherwise prone on the ground.

Dennis hadn’t even opened his mouth- still, he had the appearance of someone who had just snapped it shut, arms crossed and face all thin lines. Yuuya frowned too. Their games were supposed to be fun for all of them, so if Dennis was getting bored, then-

“You make a cool villain,” Yuzu said, while Yuuya was still wracking his brain for a compromise. Dennis perked up immediately, looking over at Yuzu with excitement. “Yeah, you’re all… All cool, and mysterious with the mask and stuff! Right, Yuuya?”

Yuzu nudged him with her elbow; not like he needed the encouragement. He jumped in. “Yeah, it was super interesting that you made the High Magician a Knight that only had weak powers. So then it made sense why he had to capture the princess for her magic.”

Dennis couldn’t hide his grin, that brightness that overflowed like the glimmers from his palm. “Okay,” he said, “I’m going to make the next one even better! Just wait!”

Yuuya nodded. Dennis was good at stories. The best of all of them, maybe. He said, matching Dennis’ grin, “I’m excited!”

“Me too,” Yuzu echoed, and the two of them went to help pull Gongenzaka up from the ground. They walked back to camp together, and Yuuya could see it- in the particular slope of Dennis’ shoulders, in the spring in his step, that gleam in his eye- he had a good story started. Roles for all of them, characters for them to build on.

Yuuya smiled, swung Yuzu’s hand in his a little harder. He couldn’t wait.

* * *

“Now,” said Yusho, “this is one of the most important parts of becoming an entertainer. You need to listen carefully, understand?”

Dennis nodded, quick, sure. His eyes did not leave Yusho’s as the man began to speak. “Now, don’t forget this. When you perform, the most important thing is your audience. Pay attention to their every reaction and learn to use them. What makes them laugh, what makes them cry, what excites them the most… Your job is to create the perfect story for them.”

“But what if I’m playing a character?” Dennis asked, thinking of the games that gave moon and stars to the days of eternal sun, if only in their imagination. He’d never do the things that his evil magician did, nor would he attack innocent villages, let them burn to ash before him like his own home had at the dawn of the Rebellion.

“Here’s the secret,” Yusho began, and Dennis got the feeling that he was in for a story- “When I was court entertainer, I played more characters than you could even imagine. But the most important thing, the thing that kept the audience believing that I really was the lucky gambling duelist or the rich King of the dragons, was that there was a little piece of me inside each character. Do you understand?”

Dennis nodded slowly, considering the magician he had created. He would never be so cruel, he thought, nor as uncaring or bitter- but he could be just as brave, just as eager to learn the truth that the world was so desperate to keep from him. “Thank you,” he said, and then- “I hope I can be just as good a teacher as you one day.”

Yusho let out a startled chuckle, then nodded, offered him a hand. “You’re already well on your way to being a true entertainer. I’ll look forward to the day you can teach, too.”

Dennis shook it, feeling supremely important. Because that was the thing about Yusho- he cared, and he was determined to see things right. He’d do everything he could, then, to live up to his expectations, to the promise they had made without the actual words.

He would. He didn’t know much about what he’d do after the Rebellion, not really- but he would. If just this one thing; he would.

* * *

“Hey, Yuzu?” Yuuya asked, staring up at the clouds as they drifted by lazy overhead.

“Huh?” she asked, rolling over on her side, rustling the long grass of the meadow to look at him.

Yuuya continued to trace shapes in the clouds- a big flower in full bloom, a fluffy slice of cake, a racing horse, just like mom’s heart- pink butterfly wings suddenly took up his vision, and Yuuya shook his head, resisted the urge to try and bat it off his nose. After a moment it fluttered soft to land on Yuzu’s head, wings turning sapphire as one of the cards he’d been given years and years ago.

He frowned at Yuzu. She only shrugged. “You weren’t answering,” she said in response.

“I was just thinking,” he said, and this time it was Yuzu’s turn to frown. She scooted closer, sat up so she could look Yuuya in the eyes.

“What is it?” she asked, then- “I told you my secrets, so you can tell me yours.” 

“It’s not a secret!” Yuuya said, sitting up so Yuzu couldn’t lean over him any more, “But maybe don’t tell mom and dad.” He made sure Yuzu nodded- _ cross my heart and hope to die _ \- then continued, “I just want to know when we can go home.”

“Oh,” said Yuzu, too-quiet. “I want to know, too. But dad said home isn’t safe right now. And that your mom and dad are fighting for the right reason. So we just have to keep waiting, right?”

“Yeah,” Yuuya said, “Dad said we just have to wait a little longer. So after that I want you to show me your house. Mom says it’s right next to our old one.”

“Why my house?” Yuzu protested, “yours is way cooler!”

Yuuya crossed his arms, grumbled- “It wasn’t my  _ house _ . We just lived there.”

“Same difference,” said Yuzu, and Yuuya stuck out his tongue. If he said  _ is not _ , then Yuzu would just say  _ is too _ , and they’d never hear the end of it until Dennis or Gongenzaka tried to break the vote. Yuzu glared, but without any anger. She relented, “Fine. And Gongenzaka and Dennis can come too, but you all have to bring your own bl

ankets. I’m not sharing.”

Yuuya laughed- he knew Yuzu would want them all to come. “Okay! But don’t forget.”

“Like I would,” Yuzu said. They shared a smile, then flopped back down on the grass, pointing up at the clouds as they dragged across the midday sun. A puppy, a unicorn, a little white forest of trees, caught up in the tail of a dissolving contrail.

* * *

On a quiet day that had seen Yusho’s army rest, avoiding the scorching heat of the sun that lingered perpetual overhead, a boy that Dennis didn’t recognize wandered into camp, walking between the soldiers as if he belonged. Yusho noticed him, beckoned him over- Dennis hid behind the corner of a tent, not wanting to be seen eavesdropping.

Yusho knelt down to be on eye level with the boy. When he addressed them, Dennis thought, he treated them like adults. It was just one of the things that the children liked about him so much.

“What brings you all the way here?” Yusho had asked, Dennis peering around the corner of the tent to see. Children arriving in camp were not so unusual after a battle, but for a child to approach them days out from the nearest town- Dennis couldn’t help but be interested.

The boy stared up at Yusho, but said nothing. Yusho prompted again- “Reiji. You can tell me.”

The boy nodded, sharp and sure. Dennis tried to look him over- the same age as him, maybe- or it could have been that the bright red glasses made him look a little older, hid the roundness of his face behind their square lenses. "I ran away."

But how unusual, thought Dennis, for a child to arrive on their own. Here, in the heart of Academia’s territory, to be wandering alone-

“Did you have anyone with you?” Yusho asked, and Reiji looked away, fiddling with something Dennis couldn’t see before replying.

Reiji shook his head. “I was trying to bring someone with me, but…”

He pulled something from his pocket that glinted in the sun, flashing light. Yusho took it from him gently, held it up to his eye. Dennis poked his head out farther from behind the tent to try and see. In Yusho’s hand was a crescent moon, a shard of mirror broken off jagged from something larger.

“I see,” said Yusho, though what he understood Dennis did not know. “Well. You’re as welcome here as my own son.”

“Thank you,” Reiji said, and Yusho called Yoko over, insisted that she show Reiji around the camp- there were things he had to attend to, but Dennis had stopped listening. Instead he ran back towards where the others would be, hoping to find Yuuya. If anyone would know, he thought, it would be him.

* * *

In those childish days, so close to the fighting yet so far removed from the reality of it, they had played game upon game together, bouncing off each other as easy and natural as if they'd known each other since the day they were born. But they were not always together- when Dennis dragged Gongenzaka off somewhere, promising adventure, Yuuya and Yuzu stole off the other way, somewhere quiet and away from anyone’s prying eyes.

Yuuya watched as Yuzu grew the flower from her hands, petals blooming from colorless into a bright blue that matched the ribbons in her hair. When those wilted and fell gentle back into her palms, they turned a pale pink and danced before sprouting into flowers of their own as the first stem curled back into itself. "Wow," Yuuya breathed, watching as light jumped between the glowing petals.

"It's not much," Yuzu said, but Yuuya smiled up at her as the flowers faded from her palms.

"That's so cool! You're really talented, Yuzu!"

Yuzu hummed, then ducked her head into her hands, embarrassed. Her heart, a little fae, fluttered behind Yuzu’s hair, poking one tiny eye out to meet Yuuya’s. His heart let out a tiny shriek of agreement, the red baby dragon spitting tiny, matchstick plumes of fire in agreement. “You really think so?”

Yuuya nodded. “Super talented! I bet one day you’d be able to fill the whole world with the flowers you make. Once you don’t have to keep it a secret anymore.”

“Okay,” said Yuzu, “but then you have to do something incredible, too. Like save the world, or something.”

“Huh? Isn’t that way different?” Yuuya protested, but Yuzu’s heart only flew gleeful circles around his head, landing right between his goggles and dangling its legs between his eyes. Yuzu giggled, and he relented. “Okay. But we’re going to do it together. Okay?”

Yuzu nodded, curling the baby dragon in her arms as it clawed gentle up into her lap. “Okay.”

* * *

“Look,” said Dennis, brandishing his deck of cards. It was a mismatched mash of suits and repeated pictures, collected from the unbloodied remains of decks whose owners would no longer be able to play them. Yuuya buzzed at his side, his own cards clutched between nervous fingers.

“We’ve been practicing the trick you showed us!” chimed Yuuya, looking up at Yusho with an anticipation that overflowed from the both of them, boundless and unable to be contained.

They glanced at each other, counting down- “Three, two, one-“

It was a simple sleight of hand, one that Yusho had taught them to pass the time when they had been stuck on the side of a flooded river and had sat on the far bank waiting for the tide to come down. He had practiced it until he could quite literally do it with his eyes closed, convinced of the motion of the cards- but in this, Dennis watched Yusho carefully, cataloging his every reaction. Surprise flickered fast across his open expression before it slid into a great smile, pleased and proud. “Good, Dennis. You learned that one quickly, didn’t you. Soon I might run out of tricks to show you."

Dennis made a displeased face, scrunching up his nose- but it got him what he wanted, and Yusho laughed, leaving him with a final word of praise before turning to Yuuya. "Well, how are you doing, Yuuya?"

"I've been practicing too!" Said Yuuya, overly excited. His hands fumbled with the cards as he tried to arrange everything too quickly, and he very nearly stumbled over the beginning of the trick, ruining it before it even began, so Dennis held his breath- but Yuuya recovered marvelously, and finished it off with a flourish that had Dennis clapping for him all the same.

"Yuuya! You've been practicing that one hard, haven't you. I'm proud of how well you've been doing." Yusho reached out a hand, ruffled the top of Yuuya’s hair with an unmistakable fondness. Yuuya ducked his head away in a weak protest, but Dennis could tell how he was soaking up the praise, basking in the success. “I’ll find something else to show you soon.”

“And Dennis-“ Yusho’s voice turned serious, there, caught a weight that it hadn’t had when addressing Yuuya the moment before. “You almost have it down perfectly. Make sure to get both cards moving at once. A little more practice and you’ll be doing it even better than I can.”

A little more practice. If that was all he needed, then he would have mastered it long ago. Dennis frowned. A little more practice. Just a little more- he could do that.   


* * *

Reiji made a strange addition to their little group of friends. He did not so easily respond to Yuuya’s energetic summons to play, nor did he seem as confident in finding his way through the group stories as Yuzu or Dennis himself did.

Instead he lingered at their outskirts, sitting close to the circle of adults led by Yusho and Yoko, edging closer and closer until he was inevitably shooed away. It piqued Dennis’ interest.

Yuuya would speak to him of things that had happened years ago as if they had shared them, and the bracelet on Reiji’s wrist, winged and delicate, matched that of Yuuya’s pendant exactly. There was no mistake that the two were already acquainted, though what escaped Dennis was  _ how _ . Perhaps he was a noble, perhaps the son of one of Yusho’s entertainer friends. 

But Reiji would not speak about himself, and Yuuya stayed purposely vague on the details, out of respect for his friend. The closer they drew towards central Fusion the more withdrawn the boy became, and the more Dennis realized he didn’t understand. 

“Do you want to know?” asked a voice, unfamiliar- Dennis whirled around, terrified that he’d been caught following Yusho and Reiji again-  _ any more and someone would start to ask questions- _ but he didn’t recognize the boy in purple at all. He said nothing, caught off-guard, and the boy tilted his head. Perhaps he thought he simply didn’t understand, because he elaborated- “About Reiji. You want to know, right?”

Dennis nodded, and the strange boy held out a hand. “Then come with me. Hurry, or else someone might see.”

Dennis hesitated, recalling Yoko’s stories of children pulled away from the small revolt she had staged in her younger days- but the smile of the boy before him did not seem insincere, and so Dennis took his hand, let the boy pull him into the forest and through the trees, not lost even without a path. On his back was a hunter’s bow- and maybe that was why, Dennis thought. He must have known the forest because he lived close by. “My name is Dennis,” he called up, “What’s yours?”

“Yuuri!” came the reply, and they descended back into comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of animals rustling in the trees above, the roots below. His heart leapt from low-hanging branch to branch up above, a black squirrel with bushy tail enjoying the adventure. 

It was like an adventure, sneaking out of camp right under Yoko’s nose to go explore the fields, the marshes, to climb up the tallest hill and watch the sun set, waiting for the moment when it froze at the tip of the horizon. It was only when they emerged from the forest and Dennis caught sight of the elaborate camp before them that Dennis began to realize that he had perhaps made a mistake.

"This is the enemy," he hissed into Yuuri's ear. Yuuri quirked his head, watching Dennis with cool eyes, not quite comprehending.

"You don't fight. And even if you did, you'd be on the wrong side, then."

_ Academia destroyed my home to get to the rebels inside _ , Dennis wanted to protest,  _ I’m not on the wrong side- _ but a single confused look from Yuuri kept him silent. Yuuri continued, realizing that he had frozen the words in Dennis’ throat from the way his heart clung to the leg of his pants, “It was important to find you. The Professor ordered it.”

The Professor- the man whose name everyone born and raised in Fusion knew, and Dennis was no exception- Akaba Leo. Akaba…  _ Akaba _ \- things fell very suddenly into place for Dennis then, and the revelation left him reeling enough that he heard Yuuri’s next words without registering them, let Yuuri drag him into a grand tent without protest.

The Professor was an intimidating man, clearly showing his age and yet not having lost a fraction of his power, his influence for it. He held out a hand in the air, considering something between his fingertips that Dennis could not see. “Thank you for your work, Yuuri,” he said, and the other boy slunk back towards the outer edge of the tent, leaving Dennis alone to face the Professor. “This is him. The one with a fragment of a soul that is not his. A key to what is to come.”

_ What do you mean _ , Dennis wanted to ask- but the Professor did not notice his gathering himself to speak, and any chance he had at clearing his mind were lost. 

"I was afraid that we would never find another. You were chosen," said the Professor, pointing at the fragment of the twilight that had stuck itself fast in Dennis' palm.  "You will live a life of war, as Knight Protector to the prophecy. To the world."

Yusho's words rang in his ears-  _ you are the knights of Maiami, brave and fantastic warriors that fight only to protect the world from its end- _

He thought of what Yuuya would say, faced with the enemy commander in their games, and said-"You're lying." The Professor looked taken aback a moment, then leaned forwards in his chair and raised his hand, palm flat to the air. Dennis shrunk back, sure that he was going to be hit-

"I am not lying," said the Professor, sounding amused but far from angry, "but allow me to show you. If you are chosen, then you will see."

Dennis' heart chattered beside him as the Professor's hand moved through the air, tracing something that Dennis could not see, like the marks of ancient magic from ages far past- and then, abruptly, he tugged, and Dennis' heart stopped and he could  _ see _ .

The sky as it shattered, falling fast to the earth and drowning the people below in the waves of black that fell from the void behind. The stars, strange, glowing things that tugged at the faintest of memories as they melted from the sky, glimmering trails that fell to the earth and set the world ablaze where their glimmer, so like that of a heart, touched the trees, the fields, the ocean- in the Professor's fingers, a set of red threads, tangled and knotted tight around each other.

"Do you understand?" The Professor asked, and Dennis could only fall to his knees, one hand propped on the ground, and gasp against his racing heart returned to him. He repeated, harder- "Do you understand what happens if the prophecy is fulfilled?"

Dennis nodded, shaking, now- despite the heat, chills raced down his spine. 

“As one chosen as a hero of my prophecy, you will live a life of war. You must defend against the end of the world that those who fulfilled my predecessor’s prophecy gave their lives for. Do you understand?”

Dennis could only nod, could only let the images slip over him again and again, the same as they had that day, when Sakaki Yusho’s rebellion had marched through his hometown and met the Obelisk Force there in a sea of flames-

“So you understand. What Sakaki is trying to do is dangerous. It goes against the order that we scholars of Academia are sworn to protect. You will not have to fight against your friends, but know that we mustn’t let Sakaki’s plans come to fruition. So when Sakaki makes his move… if you tell us, then we can prevent the end of the world. That suffering you saw will never come to pass.”

“I… understand,” Dennis forced out, though he didn’t, he didn’t, he didn’t-

_ Knight Protector drawn _

_ From fate in the sand _

_ On battlefields born _

_ The remainder alone _

“Good,” said the Professor, “then I will tell you what must be done. Listen closely. The most important string of fate hangs in the balance of your actions.”

* * *

“Hey, Yuzu,” Yuuya asked, rolling an apple between his hands and trying desperately not to look like he wanted gossip- “Can I ask you something?”

Yuzu set down her spoon and nodded. She was where she always was, at lunch- close as she could get to the outskirts of camp, back pressed up against a wide tree at the outskirts of the forest. Birds chattered in the branches above. Yuuya whistled back, then sat down across from Yuzu. He asked in a rush, all at once- “IsDennisokay?”

“Did he get sick?” Yuzu asked, and Yuuya shook his head. He had thought that Yuzu would know. Reiji hadn’t. Gongenzaka hadn’t. So if Dennis hadn’t gone to him, then he must have gone to Yuzu…

“It’s nothing,” Yuuya said, “I just pushed him kind of hard when we were playing earlier. I wanted to know he wasn’t mad.”

Yuzu sighed, gave Yuuya a little  _ look _ , like she thought he should already know the answer. And he did. Just not about what he wanted to know. “You apologized before, right? And he said it was fine. So if you’re really worried, just go and ask him. He’s honest. He’ll tell you. You’re his friend, right?”

Yuuya nodded sharp, quick. Yuzu smiled, leaned forwards to tap him gently on the head with the end of her spoon. “Then go  _ ask _ , instead of trying to get it out of me.”

But it wasn’t Dennis that he spoke to next- instead it was Reiji, Yuuya nearly bounding into him as he whirled in his haste to go find Dennis. Yuuya jumped, overbalanced and almost fell backwards before Reiji reached out a helping hand to steady him. Yuuya grabbed his wrist, just below the silver bracelet on his wrist- the matching set to Yuuya’s pendulum- and steadied himself on his feet as Yuzu pretended she wasn’t laughing behind them.

“Sorry,” Yuuya said, automatic, “I didn’t hear you come up.”

Reiji shook his head, frowned. Yuuya frowned too. It seemed that was all Reiji had been doing, since he arrived in their camp. It wasn’t that Yuuya hadn’t asked- because he had, really, again and again until Reiji had quietly told him not to ask again. Maybe it was because they were fighting his father.  

“It’s fine,” said Reiji, and he dropped Yuuya’s hand to worry his bracelet, tracing his thumb along the end of the wings. And Yuuya wanted to ask- wanted to go prying again, where he wasn’t wanted. But if he could just bring back Reiji’s smile, then-

“Is everything okay?” Yuzu asked, setting her bowl aside and brushing the dust from her legs as she stood, walked over to their sides. Yuuya smiled over his gratitude, Yuzu returned it, subtle and soft. Between them Reiji hesitated. He glanced over his shoulders, then grabbed them by the wrists, pulled them into the shelter of the trees.

They ducked their heads close together, following Reiji’s lead. When he spoke, it was hushed and hissed, as if he wasn’t sure if he was regretting his decision already. “Have you ever heard of a soulmate?”

Yuzu and Yuuya exchanged a confused blink. After a moment, Yuzu said, “You mean a vessel? To the gods?”

Reiji nodded. Yuzu asked slowly- “But… why?”

“It’s… It’s important!” Reiji replied, “It’s very important that I find a sou- a vessel and bring them to a certain place. There’s someone like that at Academia, but I can’t go back yet. I overheard the Professor speaking about potential places the blessings could be located, so if I can just bring a vessel there, then… But I need to find one, first.”

“Are you talking about the prophecy?” Yuuya asked, hoping this meant that Reiji was finally ready to open up to them. Reiji confirmed with a quiet hum.

“Then,” Yuzu said, “you don’t have to look any more. I’ll help you.”

Reiji blinked in wide-eyed surprise. Yuzu twisted her palm in Reiji’s grasp, and from it bloomed a lily, petals translucent, no more than specks of rainbow light against the sun. He said, staring from the flower to her eyes- “You would help me?”

Yuzu nodded. “So let’s be friends from now on, okay? Real friends.”

“Okay,” said Reiji, as if he couldn’t remember that it had been this easy. 

“Good,” said Yuzu, with a particular luster to her eye that said she’d just had a particularly good idea, “and you know what friends do with friends?”

Reiji hesitated a moment too long before his answer. “...What?”

Yuzu grinned. “Play the villain in Knights and Prophecy!”

* * *

Dennis was not allowed to sneak around Yusho’s tent- he’d long since been banned from doing that, his curiosity having gotten the better of him one too many times during one too many important meetings- but this time his curiosity was of a different kind. One of them- Yusho or the Professor- had to be lying to him.

"Yusho," said Shuzo's voice, "I know we're old friends. I trust you. But do you really think this is the right thing to do? Yuzu's so young, I don't know if-"

"I promise you that Yuzu will be fine. I've read up on all the past instances of the phenomena while I lived in Academia. She has more power than a normal vessel should, at that age. It would be more dangerous  _ not _ to take her to the forest." Yusho spoke with the authority that commanded attention- not quite a stage voice, Dennis thought, but something more controlled, more pointed.

Shuzo let out a long noise of something caught between indecision and frustration, then spoke again- "If you think so. But she's never had problems with it since it manifested, you know?"

"I know," said Yusho, "but I think it's for the best. If Academia found out that she had this power, they wouldn't hesitate to take her."

_ The Maiden? _ Dennis thought, trying to remember if Yuzu had ever done some strange magic that a vessel should be able to do- but came up with nothing, not even the occasional strange breeze when they had complained about the heat.

Yusho continued- “We have to summon the god. If we shatter the god and take at least two of the pieces, then combine it with what we already have…”

“Is that why you wouldn’t let me take them away?” Shuzo asked, but Yusho did not reply- the silence swelled on too long, and Dennis crept away, figuring that he had his answer. 

* * *

No one had expected Academia to ambush them by coming through the forest. No one had known that Academia had drawn so near- and when they had descended, led by the Professor himself, Yusho had gone to meet him. So too had Yuuya, following Reiji towards the conflict. Because he didn’t understand- couldn’t understand why his father and his old friend had to fight over things from the past.

“Yuuya,” said Yusho, throwing out a protective arm, trying to shield the boy behind him, “Run.”

But Yuuya could not. His legs seemed to be so heavy, his knees locked at the joint even as they shook and shook and shook, like his hands in his father's jacket.

“You, of all people,” said the Professor, “should know that I cannot allow this.”

Yusho shook his head. But it was not angry, Yuuya thought. Just… sad. He reached out for his father’s arm. Yusho said, “Look at yourself, Leo. You’re destroying yourself. If you’d come to your senses, then-“

“I’m perfectly aware of myself,” snapped Leo. Yusho glanced down at Yuuya again, trying to gently shake him off the leg of his pants.

“Yuuya, please,” said Yusho, and in that moment a strange boy had landed before them, a wicked grin on his face, and plunged his hand straight through his father’s chest with inhuman eyes.

And then his father had fallen, and Yuuya-

And Yuuya-

And Yuuya…

There was a hand in his, warm and solid against the blurry unreality of the world before him.

“Come on!” said Reiji, pulling him away from what he could not yet process. “We need to go find the goddess. Yuuya, you need to help me. Understand?”

With his free hand, Yuuya pulled his googles down over his eyes. They slowed to a stop, and though Reiji glanced over his shoulder, no one must have been following. “Yuuya? Yuuya, please listen. If we find the goddess, we can help your father. He’s the one right, here. But I can’t do it without you. You need to ask.”

Yuuya, slowly, pushed his goggles up from his eyes. He couldn’t quite meet Reiji’s eyes, his own still too watery, but he nodded, slowly. Reiji grabbed his hand, and that sadness, suddenly, the grey-hardened scales on his dragon heart slowly fell apart, cracked on his ribs and glowed all the more brilliant. He could change things. It wasn’t set in stone, not yet.

There was a flicker of movement beneath one of the trees, and Yuuya turned to it.

“Where is it?” Yuuya asked the mouse digging beneath the roots of the tree, and it turned to him, tilted its head. “Please!”

The mouse turned the nut over in its hands. “It is very dangerous.”

“That’s okay! But we have to go! For… For my dad!” Yuuya said, his voice rising, and the mouse took a few steps back. He added, quiet, “I’m sorry.”

The mouse hesitated a moment, then said, “It is fine. But I cannot lead you there.”

“But… Why not?”

“Many who go into the forest do not have the strength to come out,” said the mouse. “But there are others. I will show you.”

They followed the mouse close as it scurried through the underbrush, heading deeper into the forest. After a few moments they heard someone stumbling through the forest too, rushing closer and closer- Yuuya squeezed Reiji’s hand and his heart slipped from him, fluttering with all its strength on tiny red wings to stand against anyone who wanted to hurt them-

But Yuzu and Gongenzaka burst out, Yuzu dragging him along by the hand. Gongenzaka had his bark shield raised, ready to pull Yuzu behind him, and they stared at each other for a moment, blinking in pleasant confusion.

“You are here,” said the mouse, then scurried away, slipping between Yuuya’s feet. He called a thank you out to it, and it squeaked in return, a tiny, pleasant wish for luck.

“Where’s Dennis?” Yuuya asked, but before anyone could reply, there was a flash of golden light before them, and they threw up their arms so as to not be blinded by it.

The spirits stood before him, dazzling in their radiance, and it took everything Yuuya had not to turn his watering eyes away. “Please,” he begged. Yuzu’s hand squeezed his, reassuring him though she could not see.

The spirits glanced at each other, then bowed their heads to Yuuya and turned away, gliding gently through the forest. Yuuya did not dare look away. “Come on,” he said, tugging Yuzu and Reiji along by the hand.

* * *

Gongenzaka grabbed his hand and dragged him into the forest. “We have to hold hands, or else we’ll get lost. The magic will take us.”

“Wait,” Dennis protested, digging in his heels, “Where are we going?”

Gongenzaka pulled him a few steps forwards, as if chiding his stubbornness-  _ like you’re not just as bad _ \- Dennis thought. “Yuzu says that we need to go find the goddess. Now.”

“I… I can’t,” Dennis said, and stepped back.

“Why not?” Gongenzaka asked, and Dennis just shook his head, pulled his wrist free.

“I just can’t,” he said, and stepped back. Yuzu and Gongezaka turned questioning eyes on him, but he didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know-

“Let’s… just go,” Yuzu said, tugging Gongenzaka’s hand gently.

“Ridiculous,” Gongenzaka said, not as quiet as he thought he had muttered it, and dashed away, into the forest. Dennis watched them go until the trees swallowed them. He stepped back slowly, once, then twice, then turned- he had to find Yuuri. He had to find Yuuri,  _ now _ .

* * *

As they dashed through the forest, the four of them all running side by side yet never seeming to run out of room between the trees, Yuuya got the sudden sense that they were being followed. He glanced over at Yuzu, and her nod told him all he needed to know-

They burst into the clearing, and Yuzu raced forwards, knowing that they had no time. There was a great tree in the middle of the clearing, and Yuzu laid her palm flat on it, ducking her head to press her forehead to the uneven bark. She muttered a prayer, too quiet for Yuuya to hear- and that was all the time they had before a woman emerged, walking into the clearing, rolling a red stone between her fingers, staining them as red as the stone itself.

“Mother,” Reiji spat, and the woman recoiled.

She recovered with grace, and when she spoke, it was with an eloquence that seemed to be something she was striving for, rather than something she possessed. “Reiji. You’ve spent long enough playing games. It’s time for you to come home.”

“I won’t let you take me back,” Reiji said, stepping up defiant against her. 

She grabbed him by the wrist, and though he struggled, slammed fists against her side, she only twisted her grip and held something that Yuuya couldn’t see up to Reiji. He stopped struggling, though reluctance was clear across his scowl, the tension in his still-clenched fists. 

And Yuuya- Yuuya wouldn’t let this happen. Not again. “Reiji!” he yelled, and raced forwards, grabbing Reiji’s other hand and pulling him from his mother’s grip. They stumbled backwards, and Yuuya couldn’t catch their momentum. The two of them toppled to the ground, Reiji landing on Yuuya and knocking the air from him.

“You…” hissed Himika, and lifted the stone, leveling it at him with a strange snap of  _ something _ in the air- Yuuya braced himself, but nothing came- Gongenzaka barreled towards them, holding up his bark shield, his bulk the real final line of defense- and in a moment, he was hollow and metal, a strange contraption that Yuuya couldn’t believe, despite the gears grinding smooth and seamless in his mechanical heart.

“What did you do?” Reiji asked, standing to face down his mother with anger boiling over- and the Reiji that Yuuya had known had never been angry, not really- to see it now shocked Yuuya into silence. “What did you do to my friend?”

“What I had to,” said Himika, and snatched Reiji by the wrist again. This time Reiji struggled, pulling away with everything he had. His eyes warned Yuuya not to approach. Yuuya stood there a helpless moment, and then something streaked past him, fast and painful across his cheek-

He turned, following where it had went, and saw Yuzu, turning from the tree- but it wasn’t Yuzu, somehow. Her hair floated around her in a way that defied gravity, and the grass seemed greener at her feet, a beautiful flower beginning to bloom there-

And then there was another whiz past him, and Yuzu-

Yuzu fell limp against the tree, that golden aura gone in an instant, stolen by the arrow in her neck that pinned her to the bark. “Yuzu!”

He raced towards her side, his heart flying alongside with wings beginning to grow- but he was stopped by a dragon, purple and dark in its frame that cut him off from her, that knocked him back hard to the ground, sending spots flying across his vision and a terrible static in his ears.

“Thank you,” was the last thing he heard, “for the wonderful distraction.”

* * *

Dennis had watched the arrow fly, dragged there by his hand in Yuuri’s.

"You allowed them to go." Yuuri's voice, emotionless in a way that Dennis hadn't known it could be. Far from empty, laced with the promise of a threat. Dennis could feel the power rolling off him in waves, something inhuman and immense that pushed him back and back. Yuuri matched him step for step, mushrooms sprouting sickly where he stepped until Dennis too was standing with his back to a tree, Yuuri with bow drawn. "I don't think I need to tell you what a bad idea that was."

"I'm sorry," Dennis said, thoughts racing ablaze for anything he could say, do- "It was okay as long as they didn’t get what they wanted, right? I didn’t want to hurt them.”

Yuuri stared him down the point of his notched arrow once more. He quoted Dennis’ words back to him, mocking and dry-  _ “They went this way. They were scared that Academia was still in the forest, so they left. Back to camp. Believe me, it’s the truth-“ _ Yuuri snorted. "You were chosen, and you turned you back on  _ the entire world _ . The Professor will decide your punishment.”

Yuuri lowered his bow, but his eyes retained that strange, inhuman quality. Dennis didn't dare to look too close. 

Dennis let out a long breath the moment Yuuri’s eyes were off him. His heart still raced in his chest, but it was lesser, now. It was easy to pretend that he wasn’t scared.

Yuuri’s hand around his wrist, the two of them left the forest. Again those strange flashes returned, memories of a life that he hadn’t lived springing momentary into the forefront of his thoughts before disappearing, lost and forgotten, impossible to recall no matter how long he tried to cling to those faded colors and words spoken in indistinguishable tones. 

Though it wasn’t, Dennis thought, as if he tried that hard. These memories were all loneliness, cold around the edges and grey as the castle that they took place in. If that was Academia, Dennis thought, he wasn’t sure how happy he’d be to call that place home.

* * *

Dennis shielded his eyes against the sudden golden light after the shadow of the forest, and knew instantly where he was.

They were all as he remembered them.

Yuzu, pinned to the tree by the arrow in her throat. Yuuya, vines crawling over his body and flowers blooming from the roots buried in his palms. Gongenzaka, standing over them both, shield raised and a fierce determination frozen over his rusted face.  _ Here, _ he thought, drawing an imaginary bow _ , where I watched it all happen. _

The other three rebels stumbled in together, and though they were not holding hands, they were pressed so close together that they might as well have been. Shun stood in the middle, holding Ruri’s body close. He watched them as they took in the scene, as things must have begun to click about him, his past, of why he would know of such a place- they said nothing, but he felt their eyes on him turn cold and distrusting again, marred only by that faith in him they couldn’t seem to shake.

It made his job easy enough, he figured. He said, stepping into the clearing a bit further, “This is it. And this is the deal. One of you will swap your heart with Ruri’s. I’m told it’s like sleeping. You might even dream. Your body won’t rot, and once Ruri has her heart back, you can get someone to return yours. The perfect plan.”

“I’ll do it,” said Yuuto, stepping forwards immediately. Dennis blinked- of course they would line up to volunteer. What had he expected, really?

“Please,” Sayaka said, and her voice froze them in their tracks. “Let me do this.” It was not a request; it was a demand. Ruri would be proud, Dennis thought- or perhaps just horrified that the bond she had made so sweetly would end in sacrifice.

“Are you sure?” Yuuto asked, “We don’t know if you can come back from this.”

“I’m sure. And besides. You’re the Knight Protector. Or maybe… Knight Savior, now. I know that you’ll come back with Ruri’s heart.”

Sayaka stepped forwards, and Shun followed, but Sayaka stopped abruptly, turned to Dennis. “No,” she said, “you should carry her.”

Shun curled up his lip at the idea, but Sayaka met him firmly, and he relented with just that look, passing Ruri off to Dennis. Like this, she was nothing like the girl who had helped fell a Giant, who had seen her home burn and hadn’t shed a single tear begging to be saved. She was just… A girl without a heart, dying without a last say in her fate. Something must have shown on his face, because Sayaka, for what it was worth, looked pleased with herself.

They walked a little further into the clearing, beneath the shade of the great tree, not far from where Yuuya’s pendant was catching the light, an accompaniment to the bracelet still hidden around his wrist. Dennis laid Ruri down gentle on the grass, and Sayaka sank down beside her.

"I never could do it," Sayaka muttered, her voice no more than a breath. "But I think that's okay."

Those red veins like faerie vines crawled across her body, from the tips of her fingers to her heart, branching out a hundred times over, her skin turning pale and thin as paper as her heart beat up right against it, a frantic rhythm that betrayed the brave face that Sayaka put in.

It beat and it beat, and Dennis had half a mind to tell her to stop- but the energy of the forest had already swept her up in its rhythm. Her heart beat and beat and pulled all the color from her, turning it all a deep, deep red-

And when her heart finally emerged from her body, tiny and looking shaken, deep purple and gold dust trailing from its moth wings, Dennis could have laughed. A tiny fae turned disoriented circles in the air as its owner's body collapsed. Dennis caught her, set her down on her side, curled quiet in a patch of grass. The fae fluttered still in the air for a moment more, and Dennis wondered if he would have to direct it- but after a moment, it fluttered over to Ruri and settled atop her chest, kneeling gently over where her heart should be.

The fae pushed its hands down, sinking slow into Ruri's chest with a frantic beating of its wings and a sharp cry of pain as it dissolved slowly into flecks of purple and gold again. It was unnerving to watch, but Dennis never once looked away- not until that heart was beating away slow in Ruri's chest, a promise of new hope.

He waved Shun and Yuuto over, and Shun scooped his sister up. His long exhale gave away his relief at the warmth of her body, given strength by the borrowed heart. Yuuto leaned down next to him a moment longer.

“There’s no blessing here,” Yuuto muttered into his ear. Dennis shook his head.

“There wouldn’t be,” he said in reply. “It’s already been claimed.”

He felt Yuuto’s questioning gaze burn into his back as he stepped forwards, away. Yuuto wouldn’t be able to speak to him again without attracting undue attention from Shun. But he let Yuuto brush past him again a moment as he hesitated at the edge of the clearing, not letting Yuuto out of his sight in case the forest really did decide to take him, this time-

But still, Dennis hesitated at the edge of the clearing one moment longer. He said, voice cracking quiet on the words, “I’m sorry.”

He turned away, following the rebels back out through the forest.


	25. Interlude L

Kurosaki Ruri was not dead.

And yet, she remembered dying. She remembered the cold shock of a hand plunged through her chest, the panicked flutter of her heart caught in someone else’s grip-

She remembered red, falling, dark. If that wasn’t death, she didn’t know what was. She tasted her failure, bitter in the back of her throat. She hadn’t brought him back. She hadn't been able to lead the rebels to the end. She hadn’t been able to see her Heartland, brought back to brilliant, golden life.

Kurosaki Ruri opened her eyes.

“Rin? Rin!” came the voice- came Yuugo’s voice. She knew it now, associated it with evenings beside the fire and the sharp glint of metal and crystal dragon winds. It was not a voice that she should have been hearing. 

“Huh?”

Yuugo practically jumped over to her in his haste to draw her into a hug, and Ruri shoved him back on instinct. He caught himself on the floor with his hands, but he still hit with a heavy thud. "Ow! Rin!"

"Sorry! Sorry! You just came at me so fast, I didn't-" Ruri stopped, stared down at the hands that she was waving in frantic apology. This body was not hers. Ruri shifted. Though there were similar proportions and aches in similar places, it felt wrong in a way she couldn't put quite to words.

These hands were calloused in different places, the scar on her left arm where she had sliced it open after falling with her sword gone. Her feet did not ache with the perpetual exhaustion of travel, and her eyes were not so tired.

It was as if she was in a dream. She voiced as much- "Am I dreaming, right now?"

"Rin?" Yuugo looked to her, confused.

Ruri shook her head- short hair fluttered around her shoulders. "No. Somehow, I'm Ruri."

Yuugo blinked up at her. “You’re not… dreaming you’re Ruri again, right?”

“No, I’m dreaming I’m Rin- ah, this isn’t going to get us anywhere, is it? Where are we, right now?” Yuugo got up from the ground and trotted over towards the curtains. He threw them open with a noise of celebration and no insignificant amount of pride.

“The capital!”

The cityscape before her was a mess of rot clinging to metal buildings whose structure Ruri couldn’t even begin to comprehend and crumbling brick houses, all too familiar. Ruri scrambled out of bed to gaze out the window, pressing her- Rin’s, she corrected, double-taking at her reflection in the mirror- forehead to the glass.

It was breathtaking. It was, quite literally, the city of her dreams. But seeing it in person captured it in a way that the dream-edges never could. It was grand and massive, and Ruri got the sense that she could wander the streets lost for days and still never have seen it all.

“Yeah,” said Yuugo, grinning wide and proud, “pretty cool, huh?”

Ruri nodded, and Yuuto continued. “Rin and I- but mostly Rin- have been cleaning this place up since we got back. Satellite’s mostly clear now, and the city’s getting there. People can actually live in some of the smaller neighborhoods, now. It’s really cool. Since before, this place was totally taken over by the rot, and stuff…”

“And, so, uh,” Yuugo said, then clearly just decided to spit it out all at once, “Rin and I were gonna go fix the stadium today since it’s huge and people would be able to live there while we were fixing everything else. So I don’t know if it’s something you can do, but. Can you?”

She had no magic- if it had not shown itself at the moment of her death, thought Ruri, then it would never manifest. Someone who was not a vessel or a hero could not perform it unless they had been descended from a Knight, and that too was very clearly not in her family history. But Yuugo was watching her so hopefully. She never did want to let anyone down with her own faults.

"I guess," said Ruri, "that it wouldn't hurt to try."

“Thanks,” Yuugo said, and handed her the blackened heart with careful hands. She held the battered heart in Rin's hands, and hoped that Rin wouldn't be too mad that she forgot to take off the now-stained pastel gloves.

She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do- if there was something that she  _ was _ supposed to do in the first place. She closed her eyes, tried to focus on the beating of the heart in her hands, or on her pulse, or on-

_ “Not like that,” _ came a whisper of a thought not her own, and something caught in her chest the moment her heart, skipping a startled beat, and the one in her hands began to beat in time. Ruri’s eyes flew open, and she sucked in a startled breath. "I... I can see it."

The beating hearts in the cityscape before her burst into brilliant color as their surroundings faded into something not unlike glass, a pleasant monochrome marred by patches of dark rot.

"Really?" Yuugo said, back to his usual, abundant energy, "What's it like?"

"Like... like I can see through everything, right through to people's hearts." At her side, she was vaguely aware of Yuugo nodding, putting on a sagely impression. Though she wanted to, she couldn’t drag her eyes off the sight before her, couldn’t stop hearing the pulse of her heart in her ears and the rush of blood through her veins, low in the background. She asked, "Was this one of Rin's powers?"

Yuugo hummed a noncommittal response. "Kind of? Whenever someone's heart started rotting away, Rin could see it. 

Rin’s heart beat in time with the black heart held careful between her palms. In her veins rushed the same energy that Ruri had felt only in her dreams. It was more like great rushes of emotion, storm-waves rushing up on the shore and brushing against her consciousness, an elation followed by a freefall then an updraft of pure elation under her wings again.

“So this is it,” Ruri said, “this is magic.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Yuugo said, “but is it as nice as Rin makes it sound?”

Ruri nodded. “It’s… It’s amazing.”

* * *

“So,” Yuugo said, once it was clear that Ruri’s appearing in Rin’s body wasn’t a fluke of the hour, “why are you here, anyway?

Ruri took a moment to wonder how through the day he hadn’t asked that question at all- typically the first one she would have thought to ask someone else in her situation, then replied- “Do you mean why am I here? Or why…”

Yuugo shrugged. “Both?”

Ruri sighed, then shrugged. One was significantly easier to answer than the other, in theory. In practice, it took a few tries for the words to come out, Yuugo silently encouraging her as she gathered her words. Ruri pulled at Rin’s sleeves, so tight against her skin, as was the fashion of the capital. It felt horribly constraining- Ruri had always preferred the loose flow of dresses and wide sleeves. She said, finally, “I don’t know why I’m here. It might have had something to do with the bracelet. Maybe they connect whoever’s wearing them and the owner of the blessing. But I’m here… I’m here because there was a traitor. I chased them down, and… Well. They were a traitor. It happened like you’d expect.”

“They stole your heart?” Yuugo asked, scandalized, and Ruri nodded.

“I don’t know how I can be here now, then. Since ghosts are just hearts, and all, but…”

“Well,” Yuugo said, “you’ve got a bed and a friend here until you do.”

Ruri smiled- they had never gotten particularly close during the time that Rin and Yuugo had accompanied the rebels- but it was nice, Ruri thought, that even that could be considered friendship.

* * *

In her dreams, she was sitting in a quiet room, a mimicry of the worn and patchwork home that she had inherited from parents she couldn’t remember and the junkyards of neighboring towns, picked up on excursions over the years. She sat at her usual chair, the one just slightly too tall for the table but whose seat was stuffed with feather down.

Across the table from her was not Dennis, but Rin, leaning over the table with her head in her hands. The amber of her eyes flickered with what Ruri knew now to be magic, the living pulse and swirl of it that danced inside the other girl’s body. “Hi. I’d say that it’s nice to see you again, but I don’t think that things have been going well for you, have they?”

Ruri didn’t need to answer. The both of them knew it. Rin continued on- “Well. I guess that’s how it is, sometimes. Not every plan ends up working out. While you’re in my body, you should ask Yuugo for some of my worst plans gone wrong. He only tells people when he thinks I’ll never hear that he told.”

Rin smiled; Ruri returned it. “I guess I have to, now.”

There was an amicable pause, then-

“Listen,” Rin said, “I think I know why this happened. Do you remember that story I told you about Yuugo and I going to the city the first time?” Ruri nodded, and Rin went on- “Well, that day, some of my future was stolen and replaced with someone else’s. I thought that it was hers, back then, but it’s possible that someone else’s thread got tangled up, too.”

_ Yours _ went unspoken. “And the bracelets? Those are the link?”

Rin hummed, glanced briefly to the side. “The bracelets are… weird. You haven’t noticed?”

Ruri shook her head. The clench of her fists was so tight, she feared she’d wake herself up with it. “I don’t have any magic. Honestly, at first I didn’t even realize that there was any magic in them. Everyone else could sense it, but I…”

“Don’t feel down about it,” Rin said, reaching a hand across the table to grasp Ruri’s hand, coaxing her fingers into relaxing. “See? You can’t wake up yet. Time’s running out, and I still have a lot to tell you. The most important thing.”

Rin hardly waited for Ruri’s nod before she continued. “See, the bracelets? I don’t know what kind of magic is in them, but it’s not the same as the blessings. And it’s not the same as my magic, either. It’s just… something else. Like strong emotions, or purpose, or… something. And if that’s part of what’s been connecting us this whole time, and the thing that switched our fates, then it means that our time is probably running out. Things will go back to normal soon.”

“When I wake up?” Already Ruri could feel awareness spreading through her, pulling her mind away from the hazy reality she had accepted just a moment ago.

“Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to tell. But take care of Yuugo while we’re switched, okay? He does things like forget to eat when he gets really into things, or only eats and gets too lazy to do things… Well, you get the point.”

Ruri giggled- she did. She could feel the morning sunlight across her face in a place real and tangible, and it pulled her towards it with a gentle force.

“Wait,” Rin said, pulling Ruri back with a rough tug, “something doesn’t make sense. Didn’t you say you received a blessing at the first town you went to? That you had a dream about it and you saw the light?”

“I did, but…” Ruri looked down at her hands, worried her thumb against her index finger. They were starting to fade, outlines made hazy by reality creeping into her awareness again. Rin across from her was the only point of solid meaning in a blur of shapes and colors.

“So if you didn’t get it, then who did?”

There had been no one in the room besides her and Dennis, and while she supposed that he had every reason to try and steal the blessings away from her, she knew no one else had sensed magic from him. They would have told her. She trusted Yuuto and Shun with her life and theirs with her; if they had suspected Dennis of stealing away the blessing then they would have confronted him about it long before the truth had come to light.

Unless, Ruri thought, he had been lying about the fragments of light stuck in his palm. But if he had lied about everything- his allegiance, his friendship, his heart, even his name- then that one last piece of beauty, Ruri wanted to believe was truth.

“I don’t know,” she said, and then she was gone, lost to the morning sun filtering through the curtains and landing too-bright over Rin’s tired eyes.

* * *

There was a ringing in Rin's head, a vague noise that Ruri couldn't make any sense of as she woke, disoriented in a body that wasn't hers, and it never quite went away. Ruri could feel over the course of the day the connections that bound her to Rin’s body starting to fade. Sensations became dulled, concentration harder to procure- though she had told Rin she would take care of Yuugo, for the most part, it became the other way around.

Finally, at twilight- the real twilight, not the facsimile of it that they’d been stuck in since she woke- she felt the last bond break. She said, glancing out at the sun setting, its rays casting light long over the sparkling ocean, "I have to get back."

Yuugo seemed to expect the turn of conversation. He fiddled with his gloves, gaze turned downwards. "You sure you don’t want help getting back, somehow? I’m sure Rin could figure something out.”

"I've relied on everyone," said Ruri slow, still trying to find her words, "so much. So, so much. And that's not a bad thing. If I didn't have anyone with me, I'm sure I would have fallen much further back. Maybe I never would have even met you. But... There are some things that I need to learn how to do on my own. And I think this should be the first one."

"Go for it," said Rin, in perfect time with Yuugo, a bright chirp at the back of her mind, "I believe in you."

"Thank you," said Ruri against Rin's growing presence, that great feathered whiteness that rose up above her head, filling her vision with shifting white and filling her ears, nose, mouth with that softness of loose feather down. And then she was gone, her senses cutting out for an eternity so long she feared that this time, she really had condemned herself to death- 

And then, again, she woke up. She was not far from where she had been standing in Rin’s body, though Rin and Yuugo were nowhere in sight. With the sky that refused to change from its melancholy twilight, there was no way to determine how much time had passed. Ruri hoped that it hadn’t been too long. 

She picked herself up, glanced out at the coastline, and took her first step along it. It was a long walk to Castle Academia.

* * *

The journey back was a trial unlike anything Ruri had ever experienced.

A red thread had tied itself tight around her throat, pulling taut and sending her legs flying out from under her, fingers grasping futile, trying to dig between the tender flesh of her throat and the red thread.

"Let.. Me... go!" Ruri wheezed, kicking out against the force dragging her backwards, trying to dig her heels into the ground and only phasing lightly through. Pain blossomed out from her throat, and she expected any moment to feel the thread pull through her flesh, feel blood spill over her fingers- but no matter how much she resisted, no matter how much harder the line pulled, that moment never came.

And neither, Ruri realized as her wild surge of panic subsided into only occasional flits, did actual, physical pain. She had felt something, initially, that much she was sure of- but what should have been a choking pressure had subsided to nothing more than a faint tingling around her neck, a mimicry of what she should be feeling.

Abruptly the threads changed the direction of their tugging, dragging her up off her feet and forwards, depositing her in front of a crack that appeared in the sky- and from it fell Death.

Death was a horrid, fearsome thing, a bug with a thousand legs all twitching and thin. It stared at her with five red eyes, her reflection distorted differently in all of them, images of a death she could have died.

To her alone it whispered- of the world promised beyond, of all the ways she could live in it, her soul entrusted to the beast before her.  _ “Do you know, child, _ ” it said, soft and gentle, a mother to their daughter, “ _ Of all the things that you are meant to do there? It is your destiny. My world calls you. To finish your prophecy.” _

And oh, thought Ruri, how alluring the thought was- 

_ “Come with me, oh child of twilight. It is what you deserve.” _

Ruri stared it in the eyes with a gaze gone glassy, reached out her hand as if to touch. Red strings reached out from Death and twined around her splayed fingers, a gentle caress. The phantom of her heart beat away in frantic anticipation as death approached with clicking steps- 

Ruri opened her palm, smiled sweetly, blinked away the scales from her eyes and said- “No.”

The red strings that had woven their way around her fingers loosened their grip, unravelling line after line until they danced around her and turned back upon their master, slicing through its fleshy legs and weaving tight around its body, squeezing cuts into the exoskeleton and cracking it with a satisfying crunch.

When the thread cut through into the skin and organs underneath, she heard not the rending of flesh from bone, but a cold metallic shattering, the sound passing through her form to send the edges of her blurring from the force of it. 

It did not bleed- Death’s black heart had no blood left to give.  _ “You know not what you do!” _ hissed Death, its voice low and harsh, a distorted echo of noise.  _ “You humans will only walk the path of destruction willingly! You break apart the gods that once saved you and make a rotted goddess of your greed and your pride!” _

“I can’t speak for everyone,” Ruri said, “but there’s something I have to do. I was wronged just as much as anyone else. And I  _ refuse _ to die for it. And if that makes me wrong, then…”

_ “Then what could you possibly hope to do? Powerless mortals are only food for the cogs of the world. There is no power you have that can change things!” _

Ruri stared down Death- one of its eyes burst, the image of her bloody on a dead man’s sword disappearing in a cloud of white. “Maybe not,” she said, and another eye burst, taking the next with it, and the next, and the next until Death was a thing wailing at her blind- “but maybe I can use what’s been given to me and save someone who does.”

The red stings coiled in tight, one after the other and pulled through Death, shattering it into pieces that returned like a heart up into the void that had appeared before her.

“You were rotted too,” she said, wondering, suddenly- but she continued forwards, following the rocky shoreline. One step, two- then running, racing forwards, towards that speck on the horizon slowly growing larger.

She would not stop. Not until she had rejoined her rebellion.


	26. Act VIII, Part 1

“So you… Right, sorry. Dumb question,” said Yuuto, his voice muffled beyond the flaps of the tent. Dennis lifted his head, edged quietly closer to the front flaps to better hear him.

“Do you think it’s the right thing to do?” Dennis strained for the sound of the reply, but if there was one, he could not hear it. Still, Yuuto continued, “Well, no, I haven’t, but…”

Dennis held his breath, straining to hear the whisper- but again, nothing. Only Yuuto after the silence where a reply should have come. “I  _ know that _ , but-“

Dennis poked the edge of the flap open, trying for a peek. Yuuto broke off mid-sentence, staring straight at Dennis’ prying eyes. The game up, Dennis poked his head out fully, glanced around. Yuuto was sitting a little ways before the tent, facing the entrance where no one was.

“Something wrong?” Dennis asked, words tinged with the curl of sleep.

Yuuto shook his head. “No. Just thinking some things through.”

“Outside my tent?”

The rest of the rebels flocked around him. Those that knew the truth pretended only to welcome him back. If Yuuto had simply come to check on him, he could understand- but the fragments of conversation…

Yuuto shrugged. “It’s as good a place as any to think some things over. Quieter than the rest of camp.”

Dennis couldn’t argue that. His tent was set back from that of the inner circle, settled nearly at the edge of the supply carts. In the strained twilight-dawn of the early hours, when the light of the sun was at its dimmest, there was no one who wanted to be caught sneaking around the carts.

And yet.

“Anything you’d trust a traitor with?” he joked, though his eyes were calm, inviting. He doubted that Yuuto would take him up on it, after everything- but even Yuuto, the most rational of them all, could be a fool.

Yuuto shook his head- not that much of a fool, then. He stood, slowly, dusting off his pants as he did. "Sorry I woke you up."

Dennis shrugged as he turned away, crawled back inside his tent. It was no business of his, and he had no intentions of making this stay any more uncomfortable than it already was. He went back to sleep.

* * *

“Where is Yuuto?”

“What?” Dennis shifted as the dawn light assaulted him, blinking bleary before instinct kicked in and Dennis pulled his guard up. Shun elbowing his way into Dennis’ tent wasn’t a promising way to start his morning. Especially not with those demands.

“I said,” Shun repeated, grabbing Dennis by the collar and dragging him up, “Where is Yuuto?”

Dennis lifted his hands, a show of surrender. Shun’s snarling had become far too often an occurrence; as it was it hardly phased him. “I don’t know. You share the tent with him. Did he get back in the habit of taking an early morning walk?”

Shun’s anger faltered a moment at the mention of the habit, but then he was facing the brunt of it as Shun dragged him forwards again. “I’ll force the truth out of you if I have to.”

Dennis grabbed Shun’s wrist, pried his fingers from the collar of his nightshirt. Shun glared, but allowed it. “It’s the truth. I don’t know where he went.”

"Damn," Shun muttered under his breath, turned out of the tent. He left Dennis to wander as he pleased, muttering to the rebels- who had been told to leave just after dawn- that Yuuto was off taking care of urgent business. Or at least, Dennis thought, urgent enough to run off without telling anyone.

The sun was rising well into the western sky by the time that Yuuto returned to camp, wandering back alone and with a tired slump to his shoulders that set the rebels immediately on edge. 

“I went looking for something,” said Yuuto. His tone was that particular harsh that had become not so uncommon in the days since the battle. It warned them not to press.

“Did you find it?” Shun asked regardless.

Yuuto did not answer; Dennis jumpedin instead.

"Next time," Dennis said, smiling blankly, "can you tell Shun you're leaving, first?”

Yuuto didn’t apologize- Dennis hadn’t expected him to, really-  but he nodded, a quiet acknowledgement. “Let’s go.” 

* * *

They arrived at the port a few days later, tensions running high as Shun, Yuuto, and Dennis felt the strain of the journey hitting all at once. It was the start of an end that felt like anything but.

Dennis had always remembered this town fondly- a thing of beauty as its waterways sparkled under the sun, a place of quiet piece as gondoliers steered passengers beneath the elaborate bridges and children chased each other through the streets. The smell of freshly baked bread always wafted out from yellow-brick bakeries, and the wide streets were paved with brick warm in the sun, cheerful beneath the clattering of carriage wheels.

The town that greeted them was nothing of the sort. Cold and abandoned, windows shuttered tight and wagons left abandoned at the side of the road. In one of them was a harvest of melon, molding and foul. The stormclouds above brought the whole world to grey- even the vast ocean beyond, throwing up its uneven waves.

"Please," said a woman, staggering down the street towards them. Dennis' blood ran cold.  _ What did they _ -

"Please. Please, I-" the woman staggered forwards, Yuuto reached out open arms to catch her-

"No, don't!"

Yuuto flinched back as Dennis yelled, and the woman fell to her knees just short of him. She held her head in her hands and wailed, her body crumbling as she did-  _ The rot, _ muttered the rebels at their backs _ , the rot's touched this far? Academia was supposed to fix this. They were supposed to- _

“Stay back!” Yuuto yelled, and the rebels skittered away- but the woman did not turn into the strange creature, the former humans that they had met earlier on their journey. Instead she simply melted away, the rot gone, sunk between the cracks of the cobblestones. The falcon on Shun’s shoulder called a warning; the cat at Dennis’ feet hissed at the place where it had been.

_ Why- _ but there was no time to dwell on it. The stormclouds were rolling in, and there was so little time left.

“We’ll go ahead to secure a boat,” said Yuuto to the rebels, sounding tired, suddenly. Sounding wearier and wearier since the forest.  _ Losing your nerve? Or just your hope? _ Thought Dennis, recalling again just what the rebels would be faced with at the gates of Academia. “It’s too dangerous to move through the city right now. We’ll come send for you once we’ve finished business.”

Shun, Yuuto and Dennis set out the short distance to the docks, the streets unnervingly quiet. From the edge of the docks there was a glimmer of activity, but nowhere else. He focused on it, trying to make out the forms of anyone he knew, then caught a flash of motion out of the corner of his eye, and-

“Watch out-“ came the warning, and Yuuto raced forwards, but he the boy was nowhere near as fast as his heart had been that summer afternoon so many months earlier-

The wave crashed over Dennis, dark and smelling of festering wounds under the heat of the sun, and all Dennis could do was duck his head down and hope that the rot would drown him quickly. Dennis waited a moment, then opened his eyes- the expected impact had never come.

“It can’t touch you.” The others stared at that crumbling rot, at the decay that raced from him as if repelled by an invisible force. Yuuto repeated himself, his own echo slow and filled with disbelief. “It can’t touch you.”

With a hand held out Dennis waited for the rot to touch his fingers, but it fell around them, streaming to the ground in a river running far from him. 

“You’re a vessel.” Shun’s tone was accusing, would have dug in like needles through his throat if there had been any deception on Dennis’ part. Dennis flipped his hand, watched as the rot flickered away from him, dancing away from his fingers in drops and clumps. He was too fascinated to let the words sting.

"No," said Dennis, "I'm not."  _ I would have been told if I was _ . A chosen was more useful to Academia than a simple spy. Vessels were rare, those aware of their fates even lesser-

Shun snorted. "You're right. Vessels can do magic. All you're capable of is tricks."

Dennis flinched at that one. 

The last of the rot slipped down, trailing away, and they continued forwards again- Dennis firmly before them. It was of no matter- Dennis never did have any qualms about showing them his back. 

The docks were, perhaps, the only part of the city that hadn’t been left for the ghosts and rot. A few sailors bustled around with crates in their arms, and families- or at least what remained of them- were gathered on various small crafts, bundled up with whatever they had managed to bundle up in their arms. 

“This is recent, then?” Dennis asked, waving a hand at the city. 

The old sailor shook her head. “Too recent. The world’s gone crazy, ever since those last heroes died. There’s a rumor going on between the scholars that the heroes of that last prophecy didn’t actually do their job.”

“I guess we’ll never know,” Dennis replied, not entirely listening.

Dennis kept one eye to the skies, to the shadows, searching for two familiar silhouettes between them, the promise that the rebels would not be allowed on the island, surely- but he did not find it, and so made the arrangements for the Rebels to take a vessel in peace.  Reiji had paid ahead for them, then taken a small boat to the island himself- though for what purpose, Dennis still didn’t know.

As the ship pulled away from shore, towards the island Academia and its four black monoliths hanging heavy over the ocean beyond, Dennis stared down at his hand, fragments of twilight covered again by leather glove. He flipped it over once, twice, pushed down on the places where he knew the fragments to be.

Quietly, Dennis wondered if he hadn’t been lost to the forest after all.


	27. Act VIII, Part 2

Snow had begun to settle on the island that was Academia keep by the time the Rebels of Heart marched up to their gates, worn and battered and still looking for a fight. Yuuto approached the mass of black iron, shouted up the Rebellion’s demands.

_ And end to the war. The removal of Academia’s forces from the territory they would call ‘Heartland’. The end of Academia’s taxation on territorial goods. Freedom. _

Yuuto spoke the words with the eloquence of a dreamer and the steel-hardened edges of a soldier. Glittering, like the sunbeams on the undisturbed snow atop Academia's towers. He was everything that the Resistance should have had for a leader, after Ruri. The one that the rebels ran to. The one who had really created a miracle. Instead, he thought bitterly, they’re stuck with him, who’s built a castle out of bricks of salt. He looked to the sky, clouds parted during the journey, and wondered why it couldn't have been overcast and roiling.

The gates opened. Dennis could taste the sour apprehension shifting through the air, jumping from one rebel to another as the bridge fell, as they stepped over, marched inside the courtyard. Students and Obelisk Force alike lined the outer walls, watching the rebels advance, cats toying with the canary before swallowing it whole. Their hearts leapt beneath their coats, straining in anticipation of the hunt.

“We would rather resolve this in peace,” Yuuto called, stepping ahead representative, and Yuuri emerged from the parting crowd to meet him with a smile too treacherous to even play at being be honest.

“The Professor only acknowledges those who can prove that they are the rebels of the prophecy.” Yuuri’s gaze looked them over, though he already knew what he’d find. It settled on Dennis with a look that pierced through him, a command phrased as a question.  _ When will you show them your back? _ “And doesn’t it look like you’re missing a Maiden?”

Shun bristled, snapped out a hard- “ _ And whose fault is that _ -“ under his breath. 

_ I still helped keep her alive a little longer _ , Dennis thought, and if it were anywhere else, any other time, perhaps he’d find it in him to argue- but a rumbling of the earth that set the stones clattering against each other blew the thoughts from his mind. The time for that was gone. There was only one thing left for him to do.

Yuuri no longer had any reason to hold back on his power- great vines sprang from beneath the brick and caught several of the rebels up in their grip, sinking into the flesh with biting acid that bled out black from them. 

Dennis took a step forwards. One, then another. Academia’s students and the stationed Obelisk Force met each of his. 

“You damn  _ traitor _ !” Shun spat at him, gaze boring into him with murderous intent. Dennis turned away, the soldiers parting to let him through, watching the Rebels like predators eyeing the kill. He felt Shun’s gaze at his back long after the Obelisk Force descended, swallowing him into their ranks, long after Shun was forced to look away. On his wrist, the silver bracelet grew cold against the heat of his skin.

He stepped into the main hall of Academia without glancing back, a chorus of steel against blade and flesh muffled beyond the solid oak doors. Dennis walked slow through the halls. They were, for the most part, empty, the sound of his footsteps echoing loud down the long corridors. It was a far cry from the last time that he had been in Academia, back during the time when the old castle had at least pretended to be any sort of school.

The few people he did pass scurried by with heads ducked and posture small. The actual scholars of the place, Dennis thought, dragged into something that they had never chosen. He watched as one- an elderly teacher, once a master of the arrangement of the stars in the sky- ducked into a classroom and locked the door behind them. 

He continued on without dwelling on it. He passed through the public areas- the halls of the school and its common areas, then exited the building towards the central courtyard. On a usual day, it would be brimming with students chatting over lunch and racing around with their hearts, a bit of exercise in a day filled mainly with old tomes and lessons- but today it was empty, all remaining students called forwards to supplement the Obelisk Force. The fighting, too, had not yet reached this place, only the echoes of it on the breeze passing through before being lost to the sea. 

Dennis forced himself to walk casual across the courtyard, cutting straight through the green. At the far end was the Akaba residence, the truest remnants of the old island castle. Usually it was heavily guarded at all exits- but now, it seemed, there was only a single guard who remained. 

"Halt," called the guard, though he was still a distance away. Dennis froze obediently, hands flat at his sides, palms open.  _ No tricks.  _

"I'm here on business from Akaba Reiji!" He called back, could see the way the guard considered him from the stiff way he walked forwards- not yet convinced. The guard drew his sword, heart falling out blue and rising into one of the traditional hunting dogs of the Obelisk Force. 

"Akaba Reiji," said the guard, "was last spotted with the Rebels of Heart."

Dennis clicked his tongue, rolled his eyes in a manner that chided the guard's obliviousness. "Of course he was. We're spies." The guard continued his cautious advance, and so Dennis continued- "Dennis Macfield. Student from the special class."

The guard lowered his sword a fraction, his wrist relaxing- Dennis slowly rolled up his sleeve a bit, telegraphing the motion well in advance. The winged bracelet glinted in the light, and the guard drew close to see it. "He sent me with this as proof. It's the only one of its kind. Made by the Professor himself."

He heard the guard's sharp inhale and knew he'd won the gamble. "I understand. As a guest, you will be permitted access to the residential chambers, and the residential chambers only." 

Dennis narrowed his eyes. He wanted the far tower, the one set with a great mirror at its top that overlooked the great sea beyond- a lighthouse for all the ships that never returned from beyond the horizon. "As long as what I've been sent here to collect is where it should be," he said, wondering briefly when he'd become so skilled at delivering threats, "there won't be a problem."

And with that, Dennis brushed past the guard and headed into the Akaba residence for the first time. He moved as if he belonged- the first trick in his arsenal, the one that he’d been using for so long- and none of the guards saw fit to bother him. Those that seemed that they’d try were quickly flashed the bracelet, and they seemed to understand.

It was almost disappointing; if Dennis wasn’t in such a hurry he might have thought to push his luck. As it was, he made his way fast towards the tower, then, once out of sight of the guards, dashed up the spiral staircase, leaping up the steps two and three at a time until his breath was coming fast and hard but the tower door was just before him.

He reached out to grab the handle. The door swung open.

The room wasn’t lit- the only window was a small, barred thing in the middle of the wall, dingy and caked in grime that looked as if it hadn’t been touched in years. Dennis caught quick sight of a bed, still made; a few trinkets seeming so out of place in this piece of luxury, but a horrid stench rolled out in waves, and Dennis ducked away, covered his mouth before peering inside again, knowing but not quite believing-

All that was inside was a corpse. It was rotted and worn, the brief remains of flesh left to mold on the pale white of a ribcage. It sat in a chair that had doubtless once been velvet and soft; now reduced to rat-eaten and rotted through. He approached it, not knowing why, other than he had to confirm it. That the Priestess of the Heavens, that the blessing she doubtless held-

“Die with the moon,” Dennis said, muttered against the leather of his glove. He glanced out the great window lining the wall that faced the sea. Of the four pillars that were hovering out over the sea, only two stood free and proud on their own strange power- one with runes in an elegant, curved script tracing down its sides, cracked and aged, the other sleek and unmarked, an imposing pillar of strength. The one at the farthest end had been halfway submerged, ocean waves breaking around the sacred runes carved into its surface. And between the two floating ones- Dennis blinked away the haze, and for the first time saw it as it was. 

The second pillar, its runes once bright and bold, now stood toppled backwards into the horizon, leaning at a precarious angle, as if it would topple at the slightest gust of wind- but no, Dennis thought, stepping into the room, heading towards the window despite his misgivings as the illusion he hadn't known that he'd been seeing fell away. The pillar wasn't about to fall- it was leaning against the sky. From its tip cracks spread through the heavens, disturbing the soft blue of the mid-afternoon with spiderweb black.

Behind him there was a great clatter- Dennis leapt around, poised to draw blade from sheath- but the room was empty. A mirror had fallen from its place on a rickety-looking shelf, shattering on the stone where the fur rug ended.

* * *

By the time he returned, slowly wandering the upper halls of Academia proper, the fighting had ceased. The rebels had gathered in the courtyard below, Academia’s students flanking them as the Professor addressed them with all the pride the man had ever possessed.

Dennis watched from the balcony windows as the Professor bestowed the land back upon the Rebels of Heart. "In honor of the valor of your leaders," he said, and Dennis wondered if it sounded as empty and scheming as it did to them as it did to him, "I bestow upon you your Heartland."

The boy with the rapier for a heart stepped up to receive it. The Professor placed it kindly in his hands- the map, the certificate, their declaration of independence. 

It was slow- a quiet awareness that no one knew quite what to do with. An ending. The rebels looked among each other, waiting for the trap, for the confirmation that something was still to come-

And it worked its way into a cheer.

And to them, Dennis thought- to them, this was the way it was always supposed to go. The heroes were never supposed to live. They would mourn, sorrows lightened by the fact that it had all been foreordained, that the heroes had died as they had lived.

The rebels filed from Academia's gates. They would not be attacked.

And like that, they were gone, and the gates of Academia closed once more. Dennis turned back towards his room. There was no reason for him to go and watch them leave.

It had been nearly a year since he had last been in his dorm room at Academia, just a small thing with little more than a bed and a desk set beside a closet. He hadn’t bothered with personal effects- when his hometown had burned to the ground, there had been nothing left for him to salvage, and little from the time of Sakaki’s Rebellion that had truly been  _ his _ to begin with. His practice props were still in his closet, his clothes less practical for travelling hanging above them, likely untouched since he had left. The red of his jacket stared out at him like an accusation, and he shut the closet doors hard. 

He sat down at his desk instead, heart shifting around with edges too hard to lie down. His books were stacked off to one side, where they had been, untouched since he had received them. He resolutely avoided glancing at himself in the mirror above his desk. Instead he rifled through his drawers, glancing over scraps of papers with ideas for tricks and themes for shows that he had forgotten about over the past few months. There was a pencil beside him; he scribbled down a few more just to have something to think about. To keep his mind off when he’d be expected back at class, at how he’d have to put that jacket back on and act as if the last year of his life had been nothing but a dream-

The mirror smashed, fell to pieces before his very eyes. Dennis leapt from his chair, shielding his face against the shards that struck dull against his arms. He whirled around, searching for the source of the attack- a heart he hadn't seen, some kind of projectile thrown to shatter it- but there was nothing. No one in the room but him and the shattered pieces of his reflection.

Dennis slowly bent to pick up the shards of glass from the floor. Perhaps it had just been magic, making itself known at last. Academia did, after all, hold an incredible amount of magical legacy- from knights to vessels and family trees of those touched by the gods. Stranger things had happened in broad daylight before.

It had been a stray bit of magic. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Dennis shook the shards of glass away from his hands and left the room. Perhaps it was just the spirit of the card that had come to life feeding off his negative energy, he thought, remembering the ghost story that Blues had liked to tell the incoming students to scare them into working their hardest. The amount of students who had claimed to see it was endless; there had to be some truth to the rumor.

Academia was still not quite how Dennis remembered it- the Academia that he had belonged to was perpetually brimming with students jumping between classes, chasing each other on the quest for more and more- rank, prestige, skills, knowledge- it didn't seem to matter what, Dennis reflected, only that they raced after it. To be on the island of prophecy was an honor. It was only natural that those with the strongest desires passed the tests.

And there he had been, standing in the middle of it all without a bit of ambition at all.

The grand library was quiet, as he imagined it would be, nearly deserted with the cleanup going on outside. No one had called him to participate, and so he considered himself exempt. Instead he browsed the shelves, letting the familiar titles lull him into something more resembling the Academia he was familiar with. Simply floating through, waiting for time to practice his tricks.

He pulled a few titles from the shelves without considering them too deeply- books on fate, on the gods and the stories of soulmates, a soul cut from the same star as a god that would fall to become sworn vessel.

He wasn’t more than a few pages into the first book when his attention was torn from it with a great, echoing  _ slam _ . A book fell flat to the ground, a great tome of hundreds of pages from the top shelf. Dennis leapt out of his seat at the impact, heart springing from him in alarm, a hunting dog growling low in its throat. 

Again, from behind him-

The dog leapt on the spot, grey nails and pads clicking against the ground with its steps, tail held out straight behind it- But there was no one. 

It couldn't be. He had heard stories, the kinds passed between students hiding in the dark attics of the school buildings over flickering candles and sweets smuggled from the kitchens. Stories of all the ghosts that dwelled in Castle Academia, passed down by the descendants of Knights who had been able to see them, to hear their stories. Dennis dragged his heart back into his body, frowning down at the instinctive response and trying not to dwell on how heavy it had become as of late- and set out to find Yuuri.

He wasn’t hard to find, perched on the outer wall and watching the flurry of activity below- students scrubbing the blood from the stones before it turned more than tacky.

"No chance," he said, a little too casual, "that you've ever seen one of Academia's famous ghosts?"

Yuuri glanced at him with eyes that seemed to see straight through, straight through his ribs and right to his heart. Dennis did not flinch against it. Yuuri contemplated him, curling and uncurling his hand slowly. He said, dry, "No. I haven't."

Of course he hadn't. Yuuri never had been one for idle gossip and ghost stories unless they concerned him personally. Grace or Ed- or even Gloria would have been better to ask, but they wouldn't be returning for a while yet. He turned away, back towards his room. 

_ No use dwelling on it _ , he thought to tell himself. It wasn’t his own fault he found it so hard to believe. Just the timing, the circumstances. Nothing more.

Nothing more.

* * *

Dennis was not alone in the hall. It was as he passed the lecture halls that Dennis reached this conclusion, acutely aware of a presence following him. It had an air of magic about it, flitting about him oddly, as if clashing with something else just over his shoulder. Dennis looked over his shoulder, froze at the sight he saw there.

Three figures stood behind him- One fluttered away, shapeshifting into that of a single feather before disappearing entirely. The second stood before him, tiny and small, that of a child, oddly familiar, a distinctive crescent moon in their hair-

“I know you,” Dennis said, “I remember seeing you before. You were the girl who passed through my town that day. You were the reason everyone went outside in the first place.”

The silhouette vanished with a shake of their head, disappearing with a fade so gradual Dennis could tell the moment that it could no longer be seen. The final thing to vanish was the imprint of their heart, beating arrhythmic and faltering, dark before it shattered. 

And the last figure- This one too, Dennis knew. It shifted and blurred, not in the sickly, elastic way of rot but in the haze of heat reflecting up off of stone, an idea not quite formed. Dennis brushed his fingers against the figure’s arm; it shattered into familiar shadows painted across the walls.

The hearts fluttered around them, impossible things glowing bright and healthy in their owners' chests, and then-

Dennis woke up to the sound of a great shattering from above him. He startled, leapt to his feet, but in his room found nothing amiss, nothing out of place in the bare space save the shattered mirror. His room was on the top floor, and it was easy to climb out to the roof from the tiny semblance of a balcony he had outside his window for drying clothes. He could have gotten on the roof easily, like a memory of old days, but there hadn’t been a point, not when the stars of his childhood had all disappeared.

He peered out the window. The light had grown dimmer, Dennis thought, than he was used to- it was the pillars, perhaps, blocking his view of the horizon, or the storm clouds rolling in again, fast from the west. Above his head there was a horrid crack, echoing deep and consuming like-

With the urgency of sudden realization, Dennis twisted and craned his head up, staring at the sky and trying to  _ see _ , like he had that day as a child, that day standing in the dead Priestess’ tower. He blinked, and a piece of the sky fell away to reveal a void blacker than anything Dennis had ever seen. There wasn’t a speck of light to be found beyond that fallen blue. With a distance about it, Dennis recognized hearing a faint splash as the sky fell into the ocean.

_ We stopped it. So why? Why is the world still ending? _


	28. Interlude M

Shun had felt it like a calling in the middle of that Academia courtyard, the certainty that Ruri was there, close to them. 

“Go!” Yuuto had yelled, and Shun had let his falcon clear the path before him, into the halls of Academia, then even further, into the Akaba residence with a fury that would not be denied. He trusted Yuuto, knew that he would handle the fighting there- but he carried Ruri’s body in his arms, and he would not be denied. 

He took the turns on instinct, winding his way closer and closer to the interior of the Akaba manor before reaching two grand doors that swept open at his approach. The room was grand and elaborate, star charts dappling the walls and a great, ever moving clockwork mechanism with the moon and stars with red threads lined between them taking up an entire wall. At its base was a bed, upon which a man sat, holding the hand of a young woman who looked too much like Ruri- 

“You,” Shun said, and his heart screeched- it was not the dragonheart, but it wasn’t hard to see who the real culprit had been. A tool, after all, was only a tool. 

When the man spoke, his words were calm, controlled. Unrattled by the appearance of a rebel and his warhawk, eyes hard and ready to strike. “Ah, so you’ve arrived. My name is Leo Akaba, Professor of Academia.” Leo rose slowly from the bed, holding something in his hand, weathered and rolled tight.

"I take it you want your Heartland?" Leo said, throwing a map to the ground, "Then have it. I have no use for it now. It's sparked the necessary Rebellion. And when I need it to spark a Rebellion again, I'll crush it once more. All according to prophecy."

Shun took a step closer, shifting Ruri in his arms. The map below his feet had "Xyz' scrawled out and replaced with "Heartland” in looping script. The sight should have lifted his heart, set a few of the stone feathers of his hawk a bit lighter- but instead there was only a growing unease shifting deep between the grating stone. “Our Rebellion was destined to succeed. One is the same as the other.”

Leo watched him with eyes pitying, eyes that made Shun’s skin crawl and the feathers on his heart prickle. Leo asked slow, as if he were a particularly unintelligent child, “And what do you think this prophecy exists for?”

“The prophecies exist to be protected. This one exists to create change,” he said, clutching Ruri’s arm a little tighter.

Leo only laughed. “No. It exists because I  _ commanded it _ to.”

“What do you mean,” Shun growled out, a demand for answers moreso than a question. Leo shook his head, looked pityingly upon Shun. That gaze burned him with its condescension, and he took a step forwards, his heart shaking off the last of its stone and raising its wings in pure silent intimidation.

Leo sighed, dropped a head to his hand and shook it subtly. A man upset with the perceived incompetence before him. The motion was something Dennis would do, Shun realized suddenly. His distaste curdled into outright hatred, burning its way from talon to wingtip. Leo said, patience clearly running thin, “How little you understand. This prophecy that you placed all your hopes in? It’s not real. Just a creation of mine to gather the hearts of vessels and those with the fragments of the shattered hearts.”

“Why the hell-“

“Consider this. Your home had been conquered. You live, but not well. And one day, the Professor makes a prophecy that speaks of Rebellion and chosen vessels. Or perhaps you don’t have to imagine.” That condescension, again. 

Shun spit out a dry response. “Get to the point.”

“Ray touched only the strongest heart when a piece of her own shattered. I made a plan to collect them, realizing that one of them, eventually, would work. One of them will be the heart that brings back Ray.”

Shun glanced to the still body atop the bed, to the stolen heart pulsing an angry, bruised purple beneath the surface of her chest. He turned back to Leo and  _ glared _ .

(They were the same. Sayaka’s pale heart beat away in Ruri’s chest and they clung tight to that promise of warmth, of that heart existing  _ somewhere _ -)

He snarled- “That’s-”

Something slammed hard into the back of his head, and Shun had one last moment to try and shield Ruri from the fall, to register Leo walking towards him with a confident smirk before he lost everything to black.


	29. Act IX, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, you were born with the sun  
> And oh, you will die with the moon  
> And everything you thought you had you lost  
> But now you'd never lose what you don't have
> 
> Prayers from above, never answered quite enough  
> Now the only one you have is you  
> \- What it Means to be Alone (The Dear Hunter)

_ Oh, you were born with the sun _

The rebels had not yet arrived in Academia. Either that, or they had already arrived, or they would never arrive- Ruri didn’t particularly want to think of the other options, and so she continued walking through the halls filled with students moving at haste, a few passing through her when she couldn’t dodge to the side in time. It wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, but still it was a thing that she would have rather not seen, their bodies slipping through hers. It reminded her too much of the hand that slipped through her back and tore her heart from her veins.

_ And oh, you will die with the moon _

She wandered, and still that song rang in her head, a strange thing that she couldn’t quite remember. It drew her close, brought her towards the inner rooms of the Academia classrooms. A girl stood there, her hair drawn up into twin ribbons. Ruri walked over carefully- surely it couldn’t have been her that was humming that song, the one that she knew yet could never remember-

_ And everything you thought you had lost _ -

And then the girl turned, and all was understood. Her eyes flickered with a thousand different thoughts, emotions unknown to Ruri- to humans, perhaps, and though her form was that of a young girl, the aura about her made her seem a creature ageless and wise. “Hello,” she said, and it was with that young girl’s voice, innocent and sounding so, so out of place that it took Ruri a moment to figure out how to speak again.

“What’s going on?” she asked, and the girl quirked her head at her.

"Well," said the girl who seemed to be a hundred things at once, "what have you figured out so far?"

Ruri took a moment to consolidate her thoughts, then began to list off her fingers. "First. No one can hear, speak, or otherwise acknowledge us. They'll even walk right through. So we're on the same plane of reality, just in different spaces. 

"Second. I can't feel things. Not the same way I could before. I only feel sensation if I'm expecting it, and only if I can clearly imagine what it is I'm supposed to be feeling. If I don’t want to feel pain, then I just… don’t.

"Third. I know I'm dead. That makes me a ghost. And fourth. I have no magic, but there’s some reason I could become a ghost. I think it’s because of the bracelets. I was wearing one when my heart was stolen.”

The girl tilted her head, laughed a melodious laugh, the kind that rang through Ruri's mind lovely as birdsong. "You're mostly correct. But not entirely. In truth, I had wondered if you would make it here. But I suppose they’ll be pleased.

"Follow me," said the girl, and pulled herself away from the dragonheart with a hum, a familiar melody that sent a phantom chill running up Ruri's spine. And only then did Ruri even notice him, the boy who had stolen her heart. She longed to reach out and punch him, to release her heart and have at him- but it would all be a useless effort. Instead she turned back to the girl.

"That song... and why were you?"

The girl smiled back at her with eyes too deep, too brilliantly detailed with a shifting field of flowers in their depths. She just laughed, a giggle that sounded far too out of place. “Let me show you, first. Then introductions.”

The girl floated a bit off the ground, and, upon seeing that Ruri was still walking, pulled her up into the air too, then let her go to float above the heads of students herself. Ruri smiled despite herself- if she could feel that brilliant sensation of weightlessness lifting her stomach, she was sure she would have loved it. Even now, she still did.

The two slipped through a door once they entered the dormitories, and Ruri froze at who she saw. Sitting in the room was Dennis, hunched over some sort of journal. The phantom of Ruri's breath caught in her throat. And even then, she thought-  _ I was so foolish to try and bring you back, wasn't I? _

At Ruri's side, the girl's demeanor changed entirely. No longer was her form so painful to look at, her features ever shifting and multiplying. Hair tied up in pigtails with blue ribbons, a body similar in stature to Ruri's own. A great smile, blooming bright on her face.

"Yuuya!" 

The ghost settled over Dennis' shoulder turned to them, looking first a little startled, a little tense- but once he locked eyes with the girl, his shoulders relaxed, and he threw his arms wide to draw her into a hug, her head tucked neatly under his. After a moment he began to speak, his words falling out one after the other as if powerless to stop them- "Yuzu! Are you okay? Is following him hurting you? How about the goddess?"

"I'm fine," said Yuzu, pulling back to look at him. "It stung for a while after trying to stop him from stealing the heart, but I'm fine now. I promise."

Yuzu floated backwards a bit, beckoning Ruri forwards. Yuuya watched her for a moment, then recognition flashed through his eyes and he waved. Yuzu made the introductions quickly. "Well, I think Yuuya already knows, but this is Kurosaki Ruri. Ruri, this is my friend, Sakaki Yuuya."

"Sakaki..."

Yuuya grinned, held out a hand. "Yusho's son. Nice to meet you officially!"

After a moment Ruri took it, was startled to find that the touch was solid. "Nice to meet you."

Yuuya glanced down at their clasped hands before letting go, noticing Ruri's surprise. "Yeah, I think that gets to most people. We're as real to each other as the things in the physical world are to each other.”

He should have been just a child. He should have been just a child, and yet the ghost before her was her age. Ruri looked him over, trying to understand. There was a shadow of a pendant hanging around Yuuya's neck. Yuuya caught her staring, and before Ruri could glance away, embarrassed, he said- "Oh, this?" Yuuya waved a hand through the shadow, and it parted like the shimmer of heat-haze over his skin. “It’s a part of me. I don’t really remember the explanation that well, but it has a part of my thread of fate in it. It’s not my physical body, but it’s still me. Yuzu calls it a bridge.”

Yuzu wrinkled her nose a moment before smoothing it out too-fast, as if she thought she could do it before no one else saw. “I don’t call it that,  _ they _ do. But it acts like a bridge between the physical body and the consciousness, so it’s at least accurate.”

Ruri blinked. “So… that’s the reason I’m here, right?”

Yuzu shook her head. “No, not quite. It’s more like… You’re a special case. I wanted to explain later, but… Here, come on. We should go now.”

Yuuya glanced out the window, to where the sky was shattering, chunks falling regularly into the distant sea. Ruri quickly looked away, unsettled by the sight. “We’re running out of time,” he said, and Yuzu didn’t reply, though Ruri saw how her shoulders fell.

“Come on,” she said, and floated out of the door. Ruri followed her through, still bracing herself to hit the door and still a little surprised when she floated through seamlessly.

"Yuuya isn't coming with?" Ruri asked, and Yuzu shook her head. She launched into explanation as they floated down a stairwell, into the cloudy courtyard.

"When you exist without a physical body- in other words, as just a heart- you can't roam free like when you had either or both of those things. You're locked into following a body, or haunting the very specific limits of a preexisting physical space. Basically, when you lose your heart, you get trapped inside your decaying body and maaaybe get to haunt where you were buried after that. Unless you have a fragment of a god melded to you, in which case, you get a wider radius." Yuzu shrugged. 

"But... I didn't have that," said Ruri, and Yuzu drifted closer, form billowing out at the edges. Ruri backed up slightly, glad for the open air of the courtyard.

"No," said the girl-goddess, "you didn't. You escaped, and that's why you're interesting." The god stared at her with three sets of eyes, all that same roiling blue, then abruptly blinked, and all that was left watching her was Yuzu. “You have powers that you shouldn’t have. And there’s only one reason I can think of that you would.”

They floated along though the Akaba manor as Ruri tried to figure out why she’d have powers if they weren’t linked to the bracelets, but came up with nothing, except perhaps her connection with Rin and the magic that she had used while in her body. Their strings of fate had been crossed. And if they had been crossed, then...

"We're almost there," said Yuzu, and though she knew not to what Yuzu referred, she could sense the significance of the words with what weight they soured the air with. The atmosphere turned heavy as Yuzu stopped in front of two grand doors, bolted shut. They were carved with sky charts and stained with dark lines, and Ruri felt a little intimidated just at the sight of them.

“You should go in alone,” Yuzu said, and Ruri felt her apprehension rise. “You won’t disappear. I promise.”

Ruri let out a long breath, laid her palm on the door. Immediately she was met with a strange sort of resonance, a beat that made her phantom heart shudder so hard in her chest that it ached, a pain that lingered in her gut and gave her a strange nausea that made the world seem far too bright. “Are you sure about this?”

Yuzu nodded, and her eyes flickered a hundred shades of blue, swirling together until Ruri too couldn’t look at that without suddenly feeling terror rise up in her, the illusion of wings batting against her lungs.

“Okay,” Ruri said, and passed through the door. She expected there to be another shock, but it seemed that there was only the one. Immediately she was drawn towards the bed near the front of the grand room- not the same as the hypnotic lulls of the Earth goddess’ song, or the gentle brainwashing of Death, but a real pull, a tug that demanded every bit of her being follow.

But Ruri turned away, towards the cot set up at the other end of the room, towards the man leaning over what she knew to be her body.

“Impossible,” he muttered, staring down at her heart- no, Ruri realized, horrified- at Sayaka’s heart- “How did it take so cleanly? How could those rebels have perfected something I’ve been studying for years?”

_ Speak more _ , Ruri urged him, but the Professor went irritatingly silent after that, tracing lines in the air that Ruri squinted and batted at, but could not see. She wanted to try Rin’s trick- to feel the power flowing through her- but magic was a thing of the body, not the heart, and it seemed that aside from her brush with Death that had crossed the borders of dimensions, she would be unable to see them.

Instead she turned back to the young woman lying on the bed, chest moving in shallow breaths, only enough to evidence that she was alive and nothing more. On her wrist were two bracelets- Rin’s and Reiji’s, the one stained with the pink jewel. One matched her, the latter did not, and Ruri startled- she could sense that, now.

In the young woman’s chest beat her own heart, a thing that called to her, cried out to be returned. Ruri reached her fingers out to touch, unable to help herself, unable to resist the sweet calling- then froze. “Why,” she said, mostly to herself, partly to the comatose young woman, “are there three of me in this room?”

Heart and body- there were only two. And yet Ruri had gazed down at both and found herself the third. The young woman did not answer, and Ruri brushed her fingers over her heart as she thought, muttering an apology as she did- but then her vision as taken from her abruptly, a sizzling red, and no longer did she think at all.


	30. Interlude N

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All efforts too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I heard a voice it said "e dolor e magna gloria  
> Bring me your heart and then  
> You will awake in a state of surprising euphoria  
> Don't fear the words that I say"  
> \- Gloria (The Dear Hunter)

Akaba Ray had long dreamed of the stars and drawn lines whimsical and daring between the flickers of light, creating new constellations from the sparks of her imagination. From Academia’s highest tower she gazed out the window, tracing those red lines through the sky, reading their implications from their knots and loops, from frayed edges and intersections. 

_ Prophecy _ , said her father, tracing those same lines with the sweep of his hand,  _ is just the sum of human will. If you wish strongly enough, even fate will become thread in your hands. _

Rake your fingers in the space between the stars and tangle the strings tight around your fingers, then tie them tight to the earth and the chasms in people’s hearts. Ray stretched open her fingers, watching the threads glimmer faint in the midday sun.

“You must be proud of your daughter,” said Yusho, looking down at Ray with a friendly smile, “already learning the threads of fate.” 

Her father smiled down at her too. “She’s quite the adept. I believe she’ll even end up surpassing me one day.”

Ray’s heart purred, curling around her ankles. The man was a newcomer to Academia- a performer with a knack for teaching how to bend a heart into shape and an old friend, her father had explained. The praise made her bashful, but she soaked it up, nodding her head at the promise of  _ more _ \- that she'd one day be able to play the threads like her father wanted from her. "I will!"

Yusho and her father exchanged a startled glance, then broke into laughter. Her father ruffled her hair, and Ray ducked away with a squawk of protest-  _ I did my hair myself today, papa! _ They humored her a while longer before she was eventually shooed from the room. She eavesdropped a while outside, ear pressed against the heavy wood door, but it was all boring talk-  _ gods and vessels and locations _ \- nothing like the read threads that crossed the world, and so she stood, dusted off her skirt, and skipped off to find the boy that Yusho had mentioned before they had shut the door on her- "Yuuya is with his mother. Zarc should be around here somewhere. He'll be playing. You'll know him right away."

Ray wandered a while, but it didn't take her long- sitting in one of the common areas at the base of the tower was an unfamiliar boy. She called out a cheery hello, and the boy glanced up at her, then turned back to whatever he had spread across the floor. Ray frowned and thought about calling him very rude, but decided against it at the last second.

"My name's Ray," she said, approaching with a smile- be friendly, her father had said.

"...Zarc." He didn't look up from his cards, staring down at them with a look of intense concentration screwing up his face. Ray thought it a little funny, and she flopped down beside him.

"What are you doing?"

Seeing he wouldn't be rid of her Zarc sighed, very unsubtle, and gathered up his cards.

“They play this game,” said Zarc, holding a few of the cards out for Ray to see, “with cards and hearts. At the end of every year they have a big tournament, and the winner gets to be court entertainer for the next year.”

Zarc paused for a second, then puffed up his chest and continued, “My dad was the winner lots of times in the past. But he took some time off to come here. I’m gonna follow in his footsteps, though.”

With a great thud Zarc thumped his chest, and his heart burst from it in streaks of green and grey, swirling indistinct for a moment around their heads before materializing into a baby wyvern, spitting ice from its breath. It was an exact match for the card that he had shown Ray just the moment before.

Ray's response was instantaneous. “Teach me."

"You're gonna learn from a real master," said Zarc, grinning wide, his wyvern letting out a tiny screech, "so you better listen up, okay?"

Ray, to Zarc's readily apparent horror-delight, was just as adept at the game as he was, and she took great relish in reminding him of that every time they played, hearts bounding out from their chests and shifting forms as fast and easy as even the most skilled of performers.

Over the years, they managed quite the tally of scores- 

" _ Ninety-nine wins for each of us," _ said Zarc, grinning as he waved the tally paper between them, pencil in the other- " _ And I just made it to one hundred!" _

Ray glowered at him, her heart burning up, a fire sprite at her side. " _ Yeah, well! I'm going to get to two hundred first!" _

_ "Thought you were gonna beat me here?"  _ Zarc taunted, holding the tally paper in triumph again- next to his name he added a second star.

" _ Oh... I'm gonna show you." _

Ray grinned down at Zarc, sitting atop her mottled pony heart with charcoal staining her hands.  _ "Five hundred to four-hundred and seventy-three!" _

_ "Asking my mom for help wasn't fair!" _ Zarc protested, but Ray just threw the charcoal at him.

_ "You're just mad you can't ride on your heart, admit it!" _

Zarc grinned, lying atop his black and purple dragon, head lolling back to watch the fuming Ray upside-down. He teased- "You look so dumb like this."

"I can't believe you! When did you-" Zarc cut her off with a shrug of his shoulders-  _ which looks stupid while you're lying upside down, you big dumb- _

" _ Seven-fifty to seven-twenty-five,"  _ he said, then soared up into the night sky on his dragon's back.

" _ I'm going to beat you! _ " Ray shouted up after him, and was met only with the sound of his laughter, free and exhilarated as he looped through the sky. Ray fell back to lie on the grass at the center of Academia's central courtyard and watched him go, adrenaline draining from their match as her heartbeat slowed in her chest.

_ We're so dumb _ , she thought, as Zarc danced through the air between the red threads he couldn't see. A smile curled its way across her lips.  _ But I guess I don't mind. _

"Ha," said Ray, "One-thousand wins! I got there first!"

"You can't count that time with the stupid dinosaurs! I was trying to keep our little brothers from getting in the basement!"

Ray stuck out her tongue, not caring how childish it was- it wasn't like Zarc, who she had known since she was  _ a literal child, _ didn't have more embarrassing material on her anyways. __

"Come on," she said. "You know what the promise was. You really want to wait until next year?"

Zarc folded his arms, grumbled a quiet no. 

"Thought so," Ray said, adding a star next to her name on the thick sheaf of tally papers. She grinned down at it for a moment, then turned that grin on Zarc. "So. Do we break it to them now, or later?"

When they faced their parents, it was as a united front, devious grins plastered over with pleading faces and confidence oozing out unmistakable from the edges of those paper masks. "We want," they said, "to enter the tournament in the capital."

"I'd hate for you to neglect your training for so long, Ray."

Leo frowned; Ray put on the teary eyes and clasped her hands together- overdoing it, even for her, and she saw her father just barely refrain from smiling at her act.  _ Score one for Ray. _

"Come on, papa," said Ray, "you know how it is. No one is the champion forever. I'll be back before you even know I was gone."

"Already assuming you two will make champion, huh?" Yusho said, and Ray ducked her head. At her side, Zarc stared his father in the eyes and nodded, unashamed. It startled Yusho into laughing, full-bellied, sound rich.

"Come on," said Yoko, addressing the Akabas, "let the kids go. It'll be good for them. Better than the trouble I was getting into at their age."

Leo sighed. Himika patted his shoulder consolingly. Yuzho and Yoko watched everything with no small sense of amusement, if those barely-restrained smiles on their faces were any indication.

"Ray. You must promise me this. Don’t neglect your training. You're my successor. Your pillar stands out there beside mine, and once my prophecy is fulfilled, you will make yours. Just like my mother, and her mother before that. You can't disappoint our ancestors." Leo's words were heavy; Ray felt herself shrink under the weight of them. She took a breath, steeled herself as she had done so many times before.

She would not disappoint. She would not be a failure. She would touch the stars and have the heavens  _ know _ her presence as she dragged their threads down to the earth below. When she met her father's gaze again, it was with shoulders ready to bear the weight of the world, if she so had to. "I promise," she said. "I will become someone worthy."

* * *

Leo caught her in the halls that evening, roaming about with a restless excitement at long years of dreaming on the edge of fruition.

"It's just an old hobby of mine," said her father, "but before you go, I want to make you something else."

Ray glanced down at the bracelet on her wrist- the silver crest of the Akaba family of old, when they had been warriors instead of scholars. It was supposed, her father had told her many a time, to represent the heart of Fusion itself. He added- "But you can design it yourself. I'm afraid that old idea of mine wasn't very fashionable."

"I love it," Ray reassured him. Her father's serious face smoothed out into a smile. She added, teasingly, “But I’m definitely drawing my own from now on, okay?”

She had caught him unaware; he chuckled. “Well. I’ll look forward to seeing what you come up with.”

And with something to do- with somewhere to put that restless energy, Ray bid her father good night and dashed back up to her room, pulled out parchment and charcoal, and set to drawing.

It was how Zarc found her the next morning, sauntering in to drag her down to breakfast. He rolled his eyes at her charcoal-covered arms, then walked over to her desk in lieu of Ray’s response.

"What're you drawing?" Zarc asked, leaning over her shoulder. Ray dropped the charcoal atop another misshapen blob and sighed. She waved her bracelet hand at him vaguely.

"My dad wants me to design another bracelet. Like a going-away present. It’s just… harder than I thought it would be.”

"Well? What kind of thing do you want? Simple, bulky, flashy..."

"Hmm. Simple, I guess. If I'm going to wear them both at the same time I don't want to overdue it."

Zarc snatched the piece of paper off the top of her desk, then held his hand out for the fallen charcoal. Ray rolled her eyes and picked it up for him. "With a gem, I'm guessing?"

"Yep," Ray replied, then waited as Zarc sketched a few fast lines before angling the paper towards her. It was fast- too fast, and Ray wondered what kind of joking abomination he'd just drawn- but what he had drawn was undoubtedly a bracelet. Simple, two intersecting silver bands thrown out from their point of connection at a slight angle, just a plain little circle representing the gem in the center- but Ray could see it. A little diamond in the center, maybe.

"Zarc, you're an actual genius."

He leaned back on his feet and grinned. "Yeah, I know. Nice to hear you finally acknowledge it though."

"Oh, don't push it. But thanks. I'll take it to my dad today." Ray set down the charcoal, dusted off her hands to no effect but the satisfaction of a decision.

"Huh," Zarc said, still glancing at her old designs, "Yuuya'd love this one. He's crazy about birds right now. And dragons. And wyverns, and pegusi, and anything that even vaguely has wings." He tapped his finger over one of the charcoal lines, finger coming away smudged in black. Ray knew without looking which one he'd been pointing at. It was one of the more ambitious designs she'd attempted. A bracelet like the one her father had made, just a small gem with silver wings nestled around it. She'd doodled a little pendant to match, then ended up liking the pendant more than the bracelet and summarily given up and moved on to the next design.

Ray thought a moment. "I mean, my dad's pretty good at making this stuff. Want me to ask?"

"Nah. Next week his thing is going to be squirrels, or something. A crystal that big would cost a lot, right? I'm not going to give it to a kid who's not old enough to appreciate things like money," Zarc said, then handed the paper over.

Ray glanced down at her messy design, shadowed and smudged, and thought-  _ I know someone that would appreciate it more than anything. _

* * *

"Can you see, Ray?" And she could- could see a bright red string twined around her father's fingers. "I've been practicing this for a very long time. This is a portion of your thread of fate. Not your future, but your past. One of your happiest memories."

As she watched, her father dipped the thread into the molten silver. The thread did not burst to flames, nor radiate some kind of holy light- just sank smoothly into the silver, shimmering lightly over that red-orange surface, a glassy sheen. "As long as you wear this bracelet, you'll know nothing but happiness and good fortune."

Leo paused, then- "I know you'll make me proud."

“I’ll do my best,” Ray said, and Leo smiled, turned to pull another thread.

"Wait," Ray said, "the other two aren’t for me. I wanted them to be presents for Reiji and Yuuya."

Leo stopped, hand lowering slowly to his side. “For… Reiji and Yuuya.” 

Ray nodded. "I mean, because they’ll miss me! So… can... can I do it?"

"Ray..." There were lines that no one who could see them, read them freely, was supposed to seek out. That was what had been taught for generations through the Akaba family, and that was the rule that Ray would never dare to break. Never seek out your own thread. Never seek out that of those with whom you have formed close relationships with, whether family, friend, or lover. Never seek out that of an enemy's, lest temptation draw you in.

"I'll only look at the past feelings. I promise."

Her father sighed, seeming to use the time to debate himself, then acquiesced. "Very well. But I'll be watching."

Ray had touched the threads before, of course- running her fingers down those of strangers, catching glimpses of futures that she would never again be a part of-  _ births, deaths, accolades and accidents _ \- but never before had she dared to take hold of one so clearly. The thread of Reiji's past had curled, looped in on itself and begun to coil in a way that Ray wasn't particularly familiar with- though she glanced back at her father, he had no reaction, and so Ray continued on, tracing her finger gently atop the thread. She looked not for the details of the memories, of the experiences that made him up- but just for the feelings. For the same joy that carried her spirits and made her feet tap light across the ground, that had her bursting into an uncontrollable smile and peals of obnoxious laughter- 

_ There, _ Ray thought, coiling the length of thread around her index finger and tugging it free, just as her father had done before. Carefully she tied the loose ends of the thread back together, then repeated the same for Yuuya, thread curled around her other hand.

"I did it!" Ray said, not without the thrill of achievement, and Leo nodded, supervised her as she dropped the plucked threads slowly into the pools of silver.

"So you did, Ray. So you did."

* * *

The road to becoming champions was by no means an easy one- not when the greatest opponents they'd had in those years of practice had come to be each other.  _ A tournament _ , Zarc explained as he finished off their registration papers,  _ filled with all the strongest fighters and all the strongest hearts _ .

But it wasn’t a game of fighting- such things had long since been left behind in the age of Ancient Gears and gods walking among men- but rather a game of showmanship and entertainment. Whose performance could greater thrill the audience as hearts danced alongside their owners, who could capture their excitement again and again, trick after gimmick after glittering routine.

“But a bit of fighting’s fair game,” Ray explained to their opponents as she stood over them, dull knife in hand as the excitable announcer declared their resounding victory one after another after another. 

And, when they stood before the King in all his glory, they were able to stand with heads held high, champions despite the odds. Year after year, hands clasped tight atop shifting hearts and basking in the roar of the crowd. Ray didn’t dare peek at their threads- if she looked even one, thought Ray, she’d never resist the temptation to live on this exhilaration forever.

* * *

“Don’t you think they’ve gotten kind of boring?”

“Yeah,” said the girl sitting across from the first, “maybe they should just start fighting each other, instead. Maybe they’d actually do something interesting for the first time in years.”

“What, like a death match or something? C’mon, don’t be crude.”

Zarc had a hard expression on his face that pulled down into the tightness of his posture. The grip on his fork was so hard that, for a moment, Ray was seriously worried that he’d break the thin, fragile middle. “Hey, don’t take it to heart. You know we can’t make everyone like what we do all the time.”

It took Zarc a few moments to reply, as if he was still lost somewhere far away- in those silent moments between them, Ray felt the beginnings of an inexplicable fright as her heart’s eyes glanced fast around the restaurant, pressed close to her heels. When he finally spoke, he said, “Yeah, no. It’s not that, it’s just. Didn’t those girls seem kind of weird to you?”

Ray glanced at their backs as they left the restaurant. There was nothing particularly remarkable about them either way, she thought, just two girls out on a date. A little malicious, perhaps, or completely oblivious if she were to think kindly of them- but even when they were eating, she hadn’t noticed anything particularly out of place about them. “No?”

Zarc blinked, for the first time since the girls passed by seemed to see her again. “Yeah, I guess not. Sorry, I just swore that I could’ve sensed… Yeah, nothing, sorry. I think I’m just hungry. Wanna order more?”

“Ugh, only if it’s dessert,” Ray replied, putting the moment quietly aside- but she wouldn’t forget. Not the way Zarc’s heart was still tense, still plastered to his side as if he’d just been frightened out of his wits.

* * *

“Make ‘em bleed!” Ray startled- that one cry, above all the others, had carried down to them from the crowd. Zarc’s head also turned, away from their opponents, focused with a strange sort of precision on a person that Ray couldn’t see. He tapped his chest, once, and Ray suddenly found that there were too many things that she simply didn’t understand. But there was no time to think as their opponents charged forwards, two duelists of rose, knight and vines both rushing her relentless.

But she didn’t forget. And, as the final bell tolled on the match, as their victory was claimed in bruises and scrapes, a trickle of blood running down Ray’s arm from a particularly nasty fall, she made a decision.

Ray, for the first time, allowed herself to look at the lines of fate threaded between Zarc's heart and the stars. The lines, though all unique, generally tended to look a certain way- one thread tied towards the closest star, a representation of the near future, with branches bountiful as a tree spreading out from there. But that wasn’t what she saw, then- Zarc had from him a thousand lines, all drawn between him and the ground- to the people, black lines pulsing with the rot that had inflicted itself upon their hearts.

“Zarc,” she called, unable to stop herself- and the look he shot her when he turned was equal parts guilty and unapologetic. She wanted to chide him- to tell him that no prophecy was worth the price that came with it, but the words that came out instead were- “I’ll help you. I don’t know how, but I’ll help you.”

And yet there was nothing she could do. One burden after another Zarc took upon himself, one heart after the other he brought to the moon and cleansed it in the pale light. Ray watched it all, remembering the words of the prophecy-

_ And so upon that gentle heart _

_ The burdens tearing it apart- _

_ Chased by the destroyer- _

_ But yet a moment too late. _

 

_ The sun and the moon, mirrors shine- _

_ The remainder cries out- _

_ “Why couldn’t it have been mine?” _

 

“And why  _ can’t _ it be mine? Let me become the sacrifice,” she begged of the gods, of the strings of fate that had woven so tight around their necks. But they did not reply. Not when she asked the words, begged them, cried them-

Not when she whispered them victorious atop Zarc’s heart, his hand in hers, raised high above their heads as they waved down at the crowd. It had been their closest match in quite a while- Ray had nearly missed a card halfway through, and she knew in retrospect that if she had failed, it would have meant their first defeat. But she was still riding the high of the victory, ignoring the jeers at her mistake, waving both her hands as Zarc dropped hers-

Zarc turned to her with a viciousness that was not his and shoved her off the back of his heart.

For a moment the world moved at a fraction of its proper speed- she saw the lights of the flames atop the stadium, the brilliance of the moon above them, and the curl of Zarc's lip up into a satisfied sneer as he watched her feet slip out from under her.

Ray shrieked as she fell, drowned out by the roaring of the crowd- she summoned up her heart but she never could draw up something like Zarc's dragons, nothing great and winged that could hold her weight- and so her heart only freefell beside her jumping helpless from form to form and seh thought, too calm in the slow moment-

_ I don't want to die like this _ -

The crowd grumbled as Zarc caught her in his arms, but Ray couldn't hear them. Her entire world had narrowed down, in that moment, to the frantic rhythm of the pulse in her neck and Zarc's eyes, terrified and so, so wide.

* * *

"I have to end this."

"Zarc-"

"I have to end this, now. I need to-"

"Zarc-"

"-find the destroyer and put an end to this."

"Zarc, please!"

Zarc stopped his pacing, turned to face Ray with an anger that had never before fit him.

"I pushed you off the back of my heart, Ray!" Zarc yelled, and didn't look the least bit sorry for having raised his voice. "When I did it, I was thinking about how your heart couldn't fly. I was going to let you hit the ground and die, and all I could think about was how much the crowd was going to love it!"

“But you caught me,” Ray insisted, “You’re fighting off whatever’s going wrong. You can-“

“I can’t, Ray!” Then, quieter- “I can’t. If I don’t, then I won’t just die. I’ll end up taking you and everyone with me. Because I’m connected to them now. And I take and I take, and all they do is want  _ more _ . And if this keeps going… I’ll start to want it too. So please. Don’t tell me I can’t want it to end.”

Zarc fell onto his bed, throwing out his arms and closing his eyes. Ray fell down after him, side by side. “Okay,” she said, and the word lived on long after they had fallen into silence.

* * *

Zarc would find the destroyer and fulfill the prophecy. That didn’t mean that Ray couldn’t try and find them first. So when she found that girl on the pier- saw the wind fly from her, the magic of a vessel, and when she glanced at her thread and saw the title of destroyer written among them, she seized. And, if in her haste she too tore a future piece from an unrelated line, then... It was an acceptable oversight.

When she met Zarc again that night, she knew from the way his head turned that he knew what she had done.

“Ray?” Zarc asked, and she held out her hand.

“I’ll do what I have to,” she said, “but that’s when the time comes. Until then, I won’t let you give up. Understand?”

Zarc clasped his to hers, shaking on a deal. “Yeah. Until then."

* * *

The time sooner than Ray had wished. If she had her choice, the end would have come when they were both old and withered, long retired from entertainment and having tasted all the world had to offer- as it was, she thought, it had been a nice two weeks.

They had headlined the parade atop Zarc's heart, the great grey dragon breathing power, exuding that terrifying air that Ray wondered how many realized was rot. The crowd had been insatiable as they hit the starting line for their exhibition, and Ray had long since learned how to not take the threats against her life, against Zarc's life personally-

And they had given the crowd the show they had always wanted. The two champions against each other, blades flashing as much as hearts. Ray had sensed the moment it happened- the moment that Zarc had slipped, that the lines of fate he had drawn, rotted into his own heart grew too heavy to bear and snapped under their own weight.

Zarc's dragon, proud and noble, fell like a puppet no longer controlled, dissolving back into Zarc's body as he, too, fell- Ray threw aside her sword, raced forwards to meet him, her own heart no more than a blur of red at her side-

The crowd had gone silent, but the blood rushing in her ears would have drowned out even the earlier din. Ray skidded to her knees, gathered Zarc up in her arms, feeling fast for his erratic pulse. She had thought about this, a hundred, thousand times- how to fulfill the prophecy when the time came-

“Give me your heart,” said Ray, "and I'll give you a piece of mine, okay? C'mon, all you have to do is show me. Nothing you haven't done before, right?"

There was only one line of fate left for him now, a line snipped cleanly and rapidly approaching that fluttering end. But there was one last thing she could do, one final gambit more theory than anything- “Okay,” Zarc said, and then she held his heart between her hands, a tiny baby dragon struggling to keep its form. 

“This is going to hurt,” she warned, but the smart quip she was hoping for never came. The form of his heart only shuddered in her hands, then dissolved altogether back into its original form- what a heart should never be, outside its owner’s body. Ray took a shuddering breath and braced herself for what she had to do. Zarc's heart was a corrupted, bleeding thing, blackened and beating irregularly. Ray pulled a box from the sack on her back with trembling hands, emptied out the jewelry box she kept her bracelets in, shoving them on her wrists, and set Zarc's heart carefully inside. 

She called her own heart to her hand, and she felt how fragile the cool metal was in her hand, shaped as a blade ornate and razor sharp.

“Once, this bracelet held my happiest memory. Do you remember? It was the time that Reiji and Yuuya interrupted one of our duels. You were so angry, at first, until you realized that Yuuya was trying to copy all the changes that your heart went through. He couldn’t do it, of course, and it got stuck as this silly old miniature hippo-looking thing, and we were all so surprised that he had come up with something like that we all started laughing-“ she spoke on and on about nothing, steadying the edge of the knife against the aorta of Zarc’s heart with hands she refused to let tremble. Zarc said nothing. She made the cut. Zarc said nothing.

“Accept it,” she ordered the bracelet, holding the piece of heart up to the jewel, dyeing the diamond red with the blood that coated her fingers, “Come on, accept it!”

Still, the piece of heart remained in her fingers. The magic of that bracelet did not change, not even to waver. Ray grit her teeth, forced out- “I am Akaba Ray, heir to the Akaba name and the Castle Academia.” She blinked, stared at the lines that crossed the sky. When she reached out her hand they were close enough to touch, and she ran her fingers through them, demanding that they speak to her. One, two, a familiar line tied tight where it had once been severed.

The lines  _ sang _ to her, and it was enough. She seized them, spoke the words that resonated through her head.

“Guided by fate at the expense of time, blood touches blood and line draws line. With heart in hand and fate drawn in the sand, the one whose heart was of sorrow hewn, shall hence there realize, and die by the moon. My name is Akaba Ray, and this is my prophecy!” The tips of her fingers touching the piece of heart grew unbearably warm, blood burning from his fingers, but still she refused to let go, pressing it to the gem in the center of her bracelet until it sank through it, and her singed fingers were left touching the cool silver and diamond turned deep pink.

“Zarc?” Ray questioned, her gaze snapping upwards- 

She reached out a hand to touch, to make sure, to know that everything she had done had not been in vain- she could feel the heartbreak settling in, the cold touch of stone stilling the beat of her heart, making each pulse slow and painful- And like the moon above them, Zarc’s body burst into a beautiful silver, the color of the moonbeams from the sky above, then sunk gentle into the earth like melting snow.

_ Ah _ , thought Ray, _ and so the prophecy is complete. _

But she was not done; her role in the prophecy had ended but her duty had not yet been fulfilled. The stone in her heart receded. The beat of it was still painful, and she could feel the cracks in it with every move that she made- but this was not heartbreak, not anymore. Her mourning would not drag her into the grave alongside him.

Ray stood, gathered up the scattered pieces and pasted them back together, a fragile patchwork of herself standing in the center of the silent colosseum, and went home.

The journey was not pleasant. With every step her heart threatened collapse, and with every day that passed she feared sleep, watching the track of the moon in the shortening night. The prophecy rang low and threatening in her ears-  _ purpose fulfilled, die with the moon. _

To sleep would be death. To stop would be failure.

"Come on," she said, tapping on her chest, fist curled over her stuttering heart, "come on. We're not home yet."

With each day Academia loomed closer on the horizon, with each day the pillars grew more distinct- _ father's, hers, Reiji’s, little Reira’s. _ She saw her own, tilted dangerously over the sea, supported only by a soft cloud on the horizon, and  _ ah _ , she thought.  _ I don’t mind it going like this. _

She waved a hand soft- those lines she had left ripped haphazard appeared before her. She smoothed them over with a single motion, offering the last of her own thread as compensation. From behind her she could hear a skittering, and she dared not look behind her, knowing what visage she’d see.

And finally- finally, home. Her father met her at the gates, Sakaki Yusho just over his shoulder, out of breath, having rushed from the castle keep at the news of her approach. They peppered her with questions that she could not hear, turning over their shoulders to yell for someone she could not see-  her entire world had narrowed down to the people here to welcome her home and the jewelry box in her arms.

Ray fell to her knees. The thud of the hard tile was a distant impact, a sensation felt by someone else an ocean away from her mind. Her father held her tight and steady by the shoulders, a touch she could no longer feel. Sakaki Yusho watched her over Leo’s shoulder, his face a twisted mess of concern. Ray saw herself lift her arms, lift the scattered remains of what had once been Zarc.

She could not hold it back any longer- the hearts that beat alongside her own tugged at the seams of her chest and tore with the fragments of her heart, lost to a glittering dust that poured out into the air around her like stars in the night sky. 

“I hope,” she said, not knowing if she formed the words, “that I made you proud.”

Her vision slipped hard to black. The shouts of her name came through her soft and delicate, whispers caught on a faraway breeze.  _ We did good _ .

Ray smiled. It was victorious.


	31. Act IX, Part 2

Ruri startled back to herself with a shudder, and she scrambled back from the sheets, brushing them away as she went. Red lines crossed her field of vision before fading away slow, each one fizzling out with the beat of her own heart in someone else’s chest. 

“There was another prophecy,” Ruri muttered, “this whole time, there was another- or wait. Maybe… Maybe it’s the same one, just… twisted.” The same prophecy, the same death by the moon- just different iterations, passed on one by one with each failure of the prior to be completed properly. 

“So what I have to do is…”

“Ruri?” Yuzu called, her voice carrying clear through the door as if it had never been closed, “are you done?”

“Yes,” she called back, “I’m done.”

Yuzu was hovering outside the door. “I was waiting for you,” she said, and for a moment Ruri couldn’t tell if it was the girl or the goddess speaking. But then her face evened out, her expression grew a little strained, and it was all the girl, then. “There’s something I need to tell you now. You’re not going to like it.”

“Please,” Ruri said, “just tell me.” She’d had enough of bad news being dragged out to last a lifetime. If she could just  _ know _ , Ruri thought, then she could do something about that horrid uneasiness that wouldn’t leave her, someone divided one beyond what they should be.

“Okay,” Yuzu said, “the Rebels of Heart have already been through here.”

_ Ah _ \- Ruri felt her heart fall in the room adjacent. She had already assumed so. Unless Sayaka had chased her onto the battlefield and given her heart in that moment, she must have been brought here in the hopes of restoring her. Still. Hearing it confirmed was different.

“They did it. They got their Heartland back. You’d be proud. But…”

Ruri didn’t need to hear the end; she already could guess. “Were they captured? Or killed?”

_ Please _ , she prayed, and across from her the god chuckled, cold and amused. “Alive, but betrayed. The one Yuuya bound himself to walked away from them before the battle began.”

_ Why, _ she thought,  _ why would they let him stay? You knew. You both knew, and you… _ She didn’t understand what possibly could have warranted letting Dennis stay with them. Even passage to Academia could be bought without the influence of a traitor like him.

“After this,” Ruri said, demanding of the god, “You’ll take me to them.”

Ruri dashed off towards Dennis, running rather than floating just for the phantom feel of it, her shoes hitting hard against the stones. Students leapt out of her way, sliding unconsciously from her path, as if they knew not to get caught up in her whirlwind. She dashed up into the dorms, hoping that Dennis was still there- then almost laughed in satisfaction when he was.

"You betrayed us! You stood there and let my heart be stolen! They gave you a second chance, and you ran away again!" 

Dennis, of course, said nothing.

This- this was anger, grounding and real in this glass case of fake and fragile emotions that she had grown so used to. Feeling everything through cotton, senses dulled though a blur that would not disappear- anger blew it all away, shattered it beyond repair and scattered it to the winds.

She decided she rather liked the taste of it. "Were you ever going to stand by us? Was there anything I could have done to convince you to stay? Or was I always wrong about you?”

He wouldn’t answer. He couldn’t hear a word she said, a single pointed question that she spoke with rising voice. "Did anything we all did together mean anything to you?"

In the physical plane, the mirror shattered. Dennis startled, leapt back and looked wild through the room, eyes sharp and unrecognizable, in that moment. Like someone she had never known. And she hadn’t, she thought- she hadn’t ever known the Academia side of him. Just the face he had shown them, a mask that could have been just as real as her imagination.

In the fragments of the shattered mirror, her eyes met his unseeing ones. They were just as complex and human as she remembered them being, when they had sat across from each other at the table, at the lake, beside the fire at camp.

_ Which one of you is even real? _ She thought, and turned her back. As long as she could roam, she was going to stay as far away from him as possible. Ruri clutched at her chest, the sensation only a phantom tingling down where her heart should have been.  _ None of the wounds have healed, yet _ .

She began to slip through the closed door, turning to leave him behind in the aftermath of something he wouldn't understand. She wasn't sure, suddenly, if the floating in her chest meant she felt better or worse. 

“You should tell him that, once you get your heart back,” came a voice, and Ruri startled- the real, honest warm flush of the emotion, not the pale imitation. She turned around. Yuuya was hovering behind her, a few feet over Dennis’ bent shoulders. She flushed- this time, the imitation, just a pale dust across her cheeks. She had forgotten that he was there. “But I think he knows it already.”

Ruri dropped her head, a little. She shouldn’t have yelled like that, perhaps- but it was how she felt. She wouldn’t apologize for that. “I don’t think it’s going to do any good. It was always going to end up like this.”

Yuuya frowned at her; Ruri immediately felt a flash of  _ bad _ before it slipped away. Though she barely knew the boy, she felt as if he was the kind of person inherently good, the kind that she didn’t want to disappoint. “Is that really what you think? That it was fate?”

_ What else could it have been _ , Ruri wanted to say, but Yuuya continued before she could- “Or does that just make it easier?”

Ruri shook her head, turned away. “I don’t know,” she said, “both, maybe.”

“Ask Dennis that for me, too,” Yuuya called after her, and she wondered if reconciliation was his aim. She didn’t know. She didn’t know. Maybe she never would- it was far too early still. When she closed her eyes, she could still feel the phantom hole in her chest, or an echo of a heartbeat not hers.  _ I don’t even want to think about forgiving him, yet _ .

Yuzu was waiting for her outside, her eyes flat as mirrors and reflecting just as much. She had a grin too wide for her face on, and Ruri was forced to look away.

"Interesting! Very interesting. And that's why," said Yuzu with a mischievous grin, "we're going to see what kind of things you can do. Come on. We’re going to save the world and get our bodies back.”


	32. Interlude O

"Leave us," said Reiji, and the guard- just a student in yellow, of all things- shook their head.

"Sorry, can't do that. We can't listen to any prisoner requests-"

Reiji cleared his throat, looked the student straight in the eyes. "I may be a prisoner, but that won't be for long. I'm still an Akaba. Leave us, or I'll have you expelled by the week's end."

Horrified, the student backed away. 

Guard taken care of, Reiji glanced around the cell, gathering up his thoughts. His talismans had been taken from him along with the rebels' weapons. Yuuto sat in the corner closest to Reiji, looking pained- Reiji had asked to see his wounds, but the boy had only shook his head and refused. He had breathed out between clenched teeth- "It'll pass."

Ruri had been taken elsewhere, though they knew not where or for what purpose. Shun paced the length of the cell over and over again, heart watching him with beady eyes.

"Sit down," Reiji said, the ordered, and Shun grudgingly complied.

"The anomalies, and the sun that never sets... I assume that you've already figured out that my father is at fault." The group nodded; Reiji continued- "In order to try and prolong the life of my elder sister, Ray, he willingly destroyed part of the natural order of fate."

"But... how?" Asked Yuuto, finally lifting his head, "When we took Ruri to the forest, it didn't seem like anything broke..."

"No. You were only able to place a heart in someone else's body because the threads of fate had already been snapped along those lines once before." Reiji paused, pushing his glasses up his nose. "This will take a bit of time, but let me explain."

* * *

Seven days before Selena arrived in the keep, Reiji's father had given him a gift. It was wrapped in plain brown paper and string, and Leo had paused before giving it to him, as if considering something carefully, though Reiji had known not what. "This is for you. Yuuya has the matching set."

He had left before Reiji had time to open the present, in the time between "thank you" and scouring his memory for anything he'd done to warrant a present. In the end, he came up with nothing, and simply opened the box instead.

Inside was a box of dark wood with gold gilding its corners and edges. When Reiji had opened it, tentative and hesitant, he had found a silver bracelet, just like one of Ray's. Soft-looking wings surrounded a small yellow gem, and when he slipped it on his wrist, it had been a strange feeling that flickered through him. Warm, with a quiet edge of longing- like sitting in the late afternoon sun, laughing and playing silly games with Yuuya and Ray and Zarc after their lessons. Like wandering the deserted halls with Yuuya in the evening, watching the other boy point out nothings in the air and frowning when he could not see.

_ "You really can't see him?" A shake of a head, eyes squinted behind glasses, looking for the shadow of something human in the moonlight. "He says he's King Alexander. And that he's your great, great, great, great, great- wait, I can't keep up!-" _

Like his father patting his head after his placement test, as Reiji proudly declared his top score.  _ "Just what I expected from my only son." _

Reiji had floated about the rest of the day in a horrid haze, feeling nostalgic for childhood days that really weren't that far away from the perspective of an adult- but to a child, had been a quarter of his life ago. He had hated the feeling, a fluttering that wouldn't subside-

And then Ray had come home.

Yuuya hadn't understood, at first, when Ray came back clutching tatters held together by prayers and minor miracles. And neither had Reiji, at first- or rather, he had understood. He simply couldn't figure out  _ why _ .

Why Ray hadn't died when the prophecy had ordained it. Why the sun refused to slip more than halfway down the nighttime horizon, drenching the world in eternal light. Why Selena, just arrived at the Keep, had screamed that night Ray returned, clutching at her head and trying desperately to hide the pained tears slipping from screwed-shut eyes.

Things changed fast, after that. Leo secluded himself in the sealed inner rooms with the star charts and all the instruments of prophecy that Reiji had only ever caught glimpses of. Yusho stole Yoko and Yuuya out of the citadel one evening after a shouting match with Leo over something vague and ill-intentioned.

He hadn't, Reiji thought in dismay, even had the chance to say goodbye.

So he worked. He threw himself into improvement, dedicated himself to perfecting his contracts, his knowledge, to solving the unspoken things that hung over his family's heads like a guillotine poised for execution. The newly-arrived Selena immediately took to his cause for reasons that Reiji would have called into suspect, had it been his father who had called her from that village in the outskirts of Fusion. She helped, where she could- pulling books on fate and the lines of prophecy from the library that would have been too suspicious for the magic-less Reiji to be seen reading himself- but all information came to an end eventually. Books could only do so much, he realized, in the face of an event that the world had never before seen. 

Outside, he was told, the world was rejoicing for the defeat of the rotted goddess, for their final demise.  _ Why _ , Selena had asked one evening, curled up on her side, hands clenched into fists and words barely scraping past her clenched teeth,  _ Why? Why would they celebrate when it’s all wrong? _

_ I don’t know _ , was all he could tell her, lost for words that could comfort.  _ I don’t know _ .

The next incident happened not two months later, when Reiji had resorted to pacing the halls after Selena had fallen asleep. He had wandered close to his mother's rooms when the door handle began to shake, and he stopped in his tracks. 

If Leo saw him about, Reiji didn't care- but his mother, his mother would meet him with  _ concern _ , at least partway genuine, and-

"Reiji?" Reira asked, wandering out of Himika's rooms looking dazzled and shaky on their feet, "Do you see them, too? The lines in the sky?"

Reiji's hands balled into fists, tight and unconscious. He rushed over to the unsteady Reira, put one hand on their back to keep them steady, even as their eyes traced something invisible, listless. He unclenched his hands, grabbed Reira's searching one gently in his. He kneeled down, tried to meet those glassy eyes. "No," he said, soothing that jealous ache with memories of his father and Ray, dousing that irritation with suspicion. "But this is a secret now. Just between you and me, okay? You can't tell anyone."

"Not even mama and papa?"

Reiji shook his head. "Not even Mother and Father."

Reira seemed to consider this for a moment, looking a little thoughtful. Then they smiled up at him, big and bright. "Okay!"

"Promise me, Reira," he said, and Reira nodded slowly. "No, out loud."

Reira blinked, then nodded again. "Okay. I promise."

Reiji let out a long breath of relief. The runes on Reira's stone had always been shallow, a little dull. He glanced out the window towards them- as far as Reiji could tell, they looked no different. Next to his own, plain black one, it had always looked shining with promise.

"Come on," he said, rising back to his feet, "Let's get you in bed."

"Okay," Reira said, and let Reiji lead them back to their rooms, hand in hand. 

* * *

"Why," he asked Selena, crossing his arms and leaning forwards in his chair, frustration written clear in the scrunched lines of his childish features, "why was Reira coming out of Himika's rooms? And why could Reira suddenly see the threads?"

Selena rolled over where she laid across her bed the short way, propping her head up in her hands. "Is it age? No one was sure I was the vessel for the heaven goddess until recently, anyways. What was your dad like?"

Reiji shook his head- he had never heard those stories. Only Ray had been so graced with them, in the chambers that he would never be allowed inside. "I don't know. You don't ask about things like that."

Selena hummed. "Your family's weird, Reiji."

“I know,” he said, “Now help me form the contracts.”

* * *

Academia was to be a gathering of the best and the brightest of Fusion’s students, those with the ambition and the skills to throw themselves into military or scholarly work upon their graduation- and in many cases, even before that.

And the one thing that students were best at, Reiji thought, was questioning. It took time, a fair amount of digging, and a little bit of otherwise untraceable interference on Selena’s part, but slowly he convinced students to open up to him, that he was not as his father was, tightening his grip over Academia with a single-mindedness that was reducing their school to a shadow of what it had once been.

“The way my father is doing things is wrong,” he would say, blunt and without a glimmer of wavering intention, and slowly the students came to respond. Blues, Reds, Yellows- it didn’t matter, so long as they could agree with the way that Academia’s increased aggressiveness towards its territories was wrong- like a matador trying to provoke a bull.

They shook off the name of Academia and took on one of their own creation- the Lancers. And though they could still do little, they did what they had to- bided their time, waiting for the day to make their move, for the day that Reiji’s suspicions could finally be confirmed.

* * *

Their deception, Reiji knew, couldn't last forever. He had just hoped, Reiji thought with an instant, all-consuming dread, watching Reira stagger down the hall towards him, that it would have lasted more than a few precious months.

He called soft, hoping for the best, fearing the worst- "Reira?"

Reira's head swiveled slightly towards the sound of his voice, eyes searching blankly for the shape of him. "It's Ray," said Reira, still looking so dazed, "Big sister. She asked... She asked if..."

Reira swayed dangerously, knees giving out. Reiji scrambled to catch Reira, propping them up in his arms. Reira continued, pushing on despite shaking body and glassy eyes- "you could take this and hide it."

Reira clutched at the bag slung over their shoulder, and Reiji shuffled Reira in order to take it.

Inside was a human heart, bloodied and stained in a flaky black- but still beating, resolute and determined. "Reira, what-"

"Please!" Reira cried, and pushed Reiji away with small hands. “Go!”

So Reiji ran. He dashed up the tower steps, pulled Selena from her rooms. He explained as they went, dodging guards searching frantically for him- or rather, for what he had slung over his shoulder.

They burst out the back doors, tumbling out into the back gardens, only to find that guards had already swarmed it, Obelisk Force members clad in full mask and blues. Reiji drew in a sharp breath, the only outwards sign of his displeasure. 

"You're not gonna make it with me," said Selena, dropping his hand.

Reiji turned, kept his hand extended out towards her. "Come on," he said, voice sharp, "we don't have time for this. We'll go out the side door instead-"

"Listen," Selena replied, crossing her arms in clear refusal, "your dad's not going to hurt me. I'm a vessel. I can take care of myself. And if I'm here, maybe I'll get a chance to fix everything without you." She said it with a little arrogance, that strain of pride that ran through her thick and easy as breathing.

"Fine," said Reiji.

* * *

Reiji dashed out the back garden, dodging between the grasping hands of guards and the teeth of their hounds. He climbed fast up the outer wall, only to freeze in his tracks at the sound of his name in a familiar voice- “ _ Reiji.” _

Reiji turned slow, looked down at Leo, holding out his arms as if to encourage him to jump back down, the promise that he would be caught. It wasn’t reassuring in the slightest.

"You need this," Reiji accused, pulling at the string of the rucksack- "for Ray."

Leo flinched, tried to hide it with a step forwards. But Reiji had grown adept at reading his father's tells after a year of searching so intently for them.  _ So. I was right from the very beginning. Whatever you did was for her. Always, all for her. _

"Reiji, please. I need that to help your sister. It's missing a piece, and it may be steeped in rot now, but if I just find a way to redirect enough of it with the threads-"

"She's dead, dad!"

Leo's expression snapped, turned hard and dark, eyes shadowed with something that Reiji couldn't place. It shook him, and he took a step back, heels at the edge of the outer wall. At his back blew the wind, beckoning him down onto the craggy slope of the cliff.

"Don't talk about what you don't know-" Reiji stepped backwards and let the wind take him. He didn’t need to hear any more. He was caught on the back of a butterfly, inhumanly large and soaring low over the waves in the way that only a heart could have been.

“Thank you,” he said to Selena, wrapping his arms around her waist so as to keep his balance, and felt the beat of the heart between them.

“No problem,” she said in reply, and together they made for the shore, faster than Academia’s boats ever could have hoped.

* * *

He ran. Reiji  _ ran _ , called his Lancers with him. Asuka stole them out of Academia in the dead of night, and together they fled, knowing not where they needed to end up but only that it needed to be far from Academia, and far from Himika and her mechanical pursuers.

They ran all the way to Xyz, hid themselves in a church and found themselves stumbling into the catacombs when Himika and her soldiers blew open the doors.

She had caught up at the bottom of the stairs, holding a stone between her fingers and dragging an unconscious Lancer by the collar. “Don’t,” she said, “resist any longer.”

The stone glinted in her hand, and with a horrid flash and a creaking of rusty steel, the boy in her hands had turned to metal, frozen in his horror.

“Run,” someone said to him, pushing him forwards, further down the catacombs, “Run!”

And so he had. He had run, let the cries and the flashes lighting the way before him propel him faster, bag on his back bouncing hard between his shoulders with every step- he ran until there was nowhere left, only a cavern before him and his mother at his back. He dashed a little ways up the steps, if only so he wouldn’t have to look up at her.

“Reiji,” she said, holding out a hand, “Do you know what you have there? You must give it to me carefully-“

Reiji unslung the bag from his shoulder, tossed it vaguely in Himika’s direction. It hit the ground with a clatter, and Himika dashed to scoop it up. She pulled the jewelry box from the bag, opened it frantic but delicate- 

Himika stared up at him, horror written aghast across her face. "Reiji! What did you-"

Reiji looked down at his mother and smiled. Not with malice, but with simple satisfaction of a play well-made. If it looked smug, then so be it. "It was all a trick. The heart isn't here. I never had it."

_ ("Fine," said Reiji, "Then I won't go with you.” _

_ He handed Serena the bag, held his hand out expectantly for hers. He switched the contents quickly, then handed hers back. He said- “They’ll never expect you to have it. They’ll go after me first. Make sure you find a place to hide it where only the chosen will find it, like in the prophecy. Okay?” _

_ Selena nodded. “Good luck,” she said, and Reiji pulled the strings of his bag tighter around his arms. _

_ “Good luck.”) _

Himika’s expression suddenly turned dark, into an anger that he hadn’t seen from her before- a dangerous thing, an expression that spoke of a woman who had the full conviction that whatever she was to do next was absolutely righteous. She threw the box to the corner of the hall, it rattled for a while and then went dangerously silent. “We already captured Selena. She’s being punished accordingly. But now… I can think of more effective ways to get answers out of her.”

Reiji narrowed his eyes, took a step forwards instead of backwards, fighting his instincts all the while. 

He had accomplished what he had come here to do. He understood, now the frequency of a blessing, the particular pulsation of its magic, like the beat of a heart. It made him sure- utterly sure- of two things. That the blessings were not simply a god’s favor, but pieces of fate that were true as the threads that his family manipulated-

And that Himika couldn’t sense the magic of the blessings at all.  _ Was she even really a knight? _ Reiji wondered, allowing Himika to drag him out of the catacombs by the wrist, past the Lancers that had been turned to statues-  _ I’m sorry,  _ he thought.

Once they emerged back outside the church, into the town swarming with the Obelisk Force and smelling faintly of something beginning to burn, Reiji broke free of Himika’s grasp on his wrist, dashed far from her, towards the East.

Whatever Sakaki Yusho and his father had argued over that day when Yusho had stolen away from Academia, it had been enough for Yusho to return to his native Standard and start a rebellion over. Reiji could guess, now, what they must have disagreed on, and why Yusho had called Selena to Academia. He had a destination, now. His purpose and his own two legs would carry him through- now the only thing left was to wait for the moment of confrontation.

* * *

"You said you'd be fine."

Selena snorted, then propelled herself into the air to float at eye level with him. "Yeah, well. I was wrong."

Reiji wanted to berate her, but she continued on before he got the chance. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm still here talking to you, so how dead can I really be?"

_ Very _ , Reiji wanted to say, thinking about the corpse rotting in the tower rooms above them. 

It seemed to Reiji that Selena was being rather flippant about her own death- a much more grievous offense than Reiji being flippant about being dragged back to Academia, practically chained to his mother’s side.

"It would have happened anyway. ‘Cause it's what happens," Selena explained, "when you summon up a god. You just... die. Your body still lives, but it's not you. It's some portion of a god's power. You're just the lamb they put up to slaughter." She paused a moment, then- "See, at least this way I got to go out acting cool, and not, like, gurgling on my own spit, or something. But seriously. You’re okay?”

Reiji nodded. “I’m fine. I don’t want to be here, but I’m fine.”

“Okay, then. And you figured something out, right? About the blessings and the contracts?” Reiji nodded again; Selena grinned. “Good. So, before I run out of strength, you’re going to make a contract with me.”

* * *

"We need to get those summoning talismans of yours back," said Shun, suddenly.

"While I do think they would be instrumental in breaking out, why the sudden interest?" Reiji asked.

"I need you to summon a ghost for me. That Priestess. Selena. I want to ask her something."

"Selena," he called, and the ghost flickered into view for a brief moment, then flickered again, slowly gaining strength. Without the talisman and the contract, she was still mostly transparent, looking washed-out and unmistakably dead.

"How-" Shun began, glancing between her and Reiji but Selena cut him off.

"Priestess. Have a tiny bit of connection to a god in me. Decided it would be a great idea to bind myself to this guy when I died. Can't hold on for long without the talismans though, so ask quick."

"Could you still call a part of the gods?" Shun asked. Selena seemed to consider it a moment, the silver aura surrounding her fluctuating strangely for a moment.

She said- "Probably. But I don't have a physical body anymore. Someone else is gonna have to try and hold it. And that doesn’t end well."

"What exactly happens?" Shun asked, leaning forwards- but it was at that moment that Selena disappeared, halfway through a stern  _ don'-.  _ Reiji opened his mouth, was halfway to a warning about self-sacrifice when the words shriveled in his throat.

"You rot. It eats you away from the inside out."

All eyes turned to Yuuto.

"That's a closely kept secret," said Reiji. Yuuto met his gaze evenly. "How would you know something like that?"

Yuuto pressed a hand to his chest, concentrated for a moment. Sparks leapt from his skin and were smothered by his palm. When he pulled it away, it was covered in a black tar, viscous and dripping.

"Yuuto, what did you-" Yuuto waved him away. 

“It’s not important now. But I’m volunteering. So, we break out. I'll be vessel for the god. We just need to figure out how." Yuuto turned to Reiji, and Shun followed, gazes expectant. 

"Despite the numerous escape attempts, my father never put me in prison. At least, never before," Reiji said, not without an air of black humor about the whole thing.

“We’ll figure it out,” said Shun, and Reiji nodded. They would not sit idly for execution to come. 


	33. Act X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emotionless in the dead of the night  
> Where we normally laugh or fight  
> What's it like when your heart carries vice  
> Toward the meaning of your life  
> \- Shame (Empires)

On a Wednesday morning, the sun first refused to rise after it had reached its twilight low. It hung so low in the Western sky, further down into the horizon than it had ever seemed before- as if it was ready to herald the arrival of that dreaded night again. Though she and Yuugo hadn’t had cause to fear the dark for a very long time, Rin supposed.

On what Rin could only guess to be a Friday, sometime in the timeless twilight that she liked to believe could be the early afternoon, the first piece of the sky fell from the heavens. The wound was slow and fragmented, like pieces of glass from a broken window or glasses dropped and shattered under carriage wheels. Its edges were jagged and unnerving, and sometimes, when Rin caught sight of it from the corner of her eye, it seemed so close that she could reach out and touch, catch her finger and bleed red over the rough where blue met black. But it was the stars that bled out from the black hole in the sky, pooling white and shimmering at the edge of the wound before trailing down into the distance like tear tracks.

No one else could see it, of that Rin was sure. It left her with no way to explain her terrified scream to Miss Martha and Crow, though they nodded their heads and pretended to understand, for her sake. Yuugo alone shared furtive glances up into the broken sky, though he too claimed that he was blind.

“I can just kinda… feel that something’s wrong. You know? Nothing looks wrong, but I can just know that something’s broken up there. What is it?” he’d say, and Rin would explain each crack as it slipped further and further across the sky. 

It was as they were clearing out the roof of an apartment building in the old town that Rin stopped, clutched her head, swayed on her feet and only hoped that she wouldn’t fall into the rot. Yuugo grabbed her shoulders, kept her steady as the throbbing subsided, slowly edging away from painful and towards a thrum like magic. 

“Rin…” he said, and she knew what that worry meant- she’d done this far too many times since returning from Xyz, fallen limp to the ground like a puppet with strings cut as the sun slipped down the eastern horizon. And she hated to worry him. She did, but-

"It's calling," said Rin, dazed by the song echoing through her head, "It's asking me to come."

“Then we go,” Yuugo said, and Rin steadied herself on her feet, though Yuugo didn’t let go.

“Are you sure? There’s still parts of the city that we haven’t gotten to yet, and-“

"Ah, come on," said Yuugo with a great grin, "we're practically the masters of taking the long way around by now, yeah? Miss Martha and Crow and Shinji can handle things while we’re gone. You’re still gonna be just as powerful when we get back."

Rin bit her lip, then cursed herself for doing it, knowing she’d just given herself away. “But what if I’m not? This is… This is it, Yuugo. This is the end of the prophecy.”

“Then who cares?” Yuugo said, and Rin almost berated him for being so flippant about the task they had set upon themselves. But he continued- “We didn’t need some prophecy to become champions like we always thought we did. So if this one ends, we just find some other way to finish cleaning up the city, yeah?”

Nothing that Yuugo said was untrue, and yet- Rin cast her gaze over the city, to the Satellite beyond. It seemed as if they had only just come home, and yet-

“Come on,” Yuugo said, “we’ll do the usual. You make the plan, and I’ll improvise when someone tries to stop us. Sound good?”

Rin took a long breath. The song was still echoing in her head, quiet notes made up of twilight and dawn and the moonrise she could hardly remember, like it was being pulled from her memory by a malignant force. “Okay. We’re going to Academia.”  

* * *

"Hey," said Rin, yelling over the side of her Pegasus, "doesn't that look like the Rebels of Heart?"

Yuugo glanced down to where she was pointing, squinting his eyes behind his goggles, then nodded. Rin inclined her head towards them, and Yuugo followed her lead as they descended. Rin's heart dissolved as its hooves hit the ground, and momentum carried her the last few feet down. They had landed just up the road from the Rebels, going the wrong way toward them. Away from Academia.

"Hey!" Yuugo yelled, waving his arms wide as they approached, "it's us! Rin and Yuugo! Do you remember?"

Nods and whispers, friendly waves from a few of the members of the Rebels they had struck up conversation with. No sign of Ruri, Dennis, Yuuto, Shun, Sayaka- at the front of the procession was a boy no older than them.

Rin asked as he stopped before them, "Where are the heroes?"

The boy had been smiling; no longer was his expression so bright. "The prophecy was fulfilled at Academia," said the boy, "and they did what they had to."

Rin and Yuugo exchanged a glance conversing quickly and silently. Rin could still feel the rush of the blessing tight in her muscles and springing light at the tips of her fingers. The heart in the pouch at Yuugo's back still beat away resilient. Whatever had happened at Academia, they thought in sync, it wasn't the end of the prophecy. 

"So you're going back to Heartland? You won?" Yuugo asked, and the boy's smile finally returned.

"We did."

Rin met his smile, even as she summoned up her heart, ready to fly again, fast up to Academia and whatever ending it held. "I'm glad."

They made good time over the rough terrain of Fusion- Rin, not for the first time, was reminded just how grateful she was for the shape of their hearts. Getting onto the island was surprisingly easy- whatever guards there were seemed to be lax in their patrols- and why wouldn’t they be, thought Rin, when the only threat they had been looking for was heading back home? 

They managed to set down on a roof without being seen, laid atop it between two small peaks, concealed from most angles. So long as no one looked up, Rin thought, staring through the lens of the spyglass, then they’d be fine. There were no signs of the Ancient Gears that had attacked them, so they’d be able to make a clean getaway, bar the appearance of the dragon-hearted boy the rebels had been so quick to speak rumors of. 

Yuugo nudged her in the shoulder, pointed down into one of the windows lining the side of what Rin guessed to be the library. "Hey, isn't that Dennis? Why would he be here?"

Rin turned the spyglass towards the window- sure enough, Dennis' melancholy profile greeted her. He looked to be flipping through a book, though at this angle it was impossible to tell which one or what contents. "You said that Ruri said there was a traitor in the Resistance."

"No way," Yuugo replied, turning to stare at him- but the evidence was all there, impossible to dismiss. Dennis walked the halls of Academia a free man with their friends nowhere to be found.

"No way," he said again, without a shred of disbelief. "So what do we do?"

Rin thought a while.

"Well, the first thing we should do is finish scoping this place out. If that other dragonheart is here, or any of those Ancient Gears, we might have a problem. Once we do that... We should confront him. There’s a good chance he knows where Ruri and the others are.”

* * *

Rin and Yuugo crept about the corridors with all the years of stealth that nights in the bad streets of Satellite had taught them- though Rin’s heart leapt and stuttered the times they almost turned into a corridor as a door opened further down, they made it into the inner chambers of the main keep without a single guard noticing their presence.

Beyond the doors was the sound of muffled conversation. Rin pointed towards it, and they both pressed their ears to the door, straining to hear the two voices.

“You’ll have to retrieve another heart.”

“Hmm? Was there something wrong with the one I brought?”

“It’s of no matter. They simply aren’t serving the purpose that they should. You reported that there was another girl with them, correct?”

A short silence, then- “Correct.”

“Then find her. If she was indeed with the rebels that day, then she may be the one that we’ve been looking for. The Maiden.”

The door opened- Rin and Yuugo didn’t have time to react before the solid wood was pulled away and they were staring up at a familiar face, his eyes just as wide as theirs. 

“Oh,” said the other boy with the dragon’s heart, “How convenient.”

* * *

Yuuto had never wanted to be a hero. He would have been perfectly happy to live without his heritage a Knight, without his powers, weak but all the same- and yet. Simple happiness, crowded around their comfortably patched-together home would have been enough. But in order to return to those days-

Yuuto marched into the forest before the sun could think to rise from its eastern horizon, a ghost over his shoulder, latched onto his power with every weak strain of energy between them pushed to its brink. They had hardly set foot into the forest when before them two spirits arose, dressed twin in white and black.

"You know not what you seek," said the spirit in white. Yuuto shook his head.

"No," he replied, "I know exactly what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the blessing that was hidden here by the gods.”

The spirit in black blinked at him, slow. It said- "This blessing is of the earth. You have no business here, knight of heaven."

Yuuto stared between them, into the still forest. "I'm here to do what I have to."

Yuuto blinked- Three red lines traced their way through the forest paths, hanging thin between the trees and weaving their way through the branches, draped like paper decorations between the leaves. He kept his eyes open in a long stare as he tried to trace the lines of them inwards, but they seemed to continue forever into the forest.

“You are gifted,” said one of the spirits, “And yet with a power that only the oracles should possess.”

“No,” Yuuto said, fishing the pendant out of his pocket and holding it out to the spirit, “I just have this. You’d just be a blurry outline otherwise.”

“No,” said the spirit, “No.”

But what meaning the objection had, Yuuto didn’t know. The spirit vanished with that, moving somewhere else within the forest that it had bound itself to.

“Should we go?” Yuuya was watching him, looking a little nervous. Yuuto nodded, and together they stepped into the forest. It was not as it was the last time- no memories flashed between the two of them, and the path did not meander wild through the trees. They walked shortly, in silence, to where the trees parted.

They passed through the clearing, and Yuuto paused for a while to let Yuuya float around, moving from the statue of his friend to the girl pinned by an arrow in her neck to the great tree in the center of the clearing. He himself stopped next to Sayaka, taking her hand in his a moment.

“I promise,” said Yuuya, not as quiet as he thought, “I promise that I’ll save you.”

_ And I’ll save you _ , thought Yuuto, his own silent promise to Sayaka and Ruri. He glanced up at the sky as he gave Yuuya a little more time- unlike the world outside the forest, this place was drenched in an eternal dawn. The colors of the sky were softer, the clouds fading easy into the pastels. He hadn’t realized, until that moment, how much he had missed that sight.

“Sorry,” said Yuuya, “I haven’t been here in a long time. Let’s go. The blessing is a little further in.”

Beyond the clearing there were no longer any red threads to lead them, only Yuuya’s intuition and the promise that blessing called to blessing. 

It occurred to him, then, what the spirit had meant. He asked Yuuya, who was floating a head above his shoulder, “Why can I see the lines, right now? I’ve only ever been able to see spirits, and even then, mostly just blurry outlines. Being able to talk to you was the first time I’d ever even interacted with one before.”

Yuuya tilted his head, seemed to consider. “Hm. Probably because of whatever power that pendant has. That, or maybe because those were just the lines of my friends and I. Since we’re stuck in this forest, they can’t be cut, so they just hang there forever. Maybe being abnormal makes them more visible?”

“Maybe,” said Yuuto, resolving to think about it later as they stepped into a particularly dense patch of forest. “Which reminds me. Your body…”

Yuuto trailed off, but Yuuya immediately encouraged him on. He supposed long enough had passed for Yuuya to come to terms with his situation, travelling unseen behind Dennis since the Rebellion’s end. “Your body still looks like it did when you were attacked by Academia. But you-“ Yuuto waved a hand up and down at Yuuya- “look like you’re my age.”

“Ah, that?” Yuuya said, then clapped his hands without sound, and when Yuuto blinked, Yuuya was dressed up in some sort of strange performer’s outfit, all flashy colors and strange paint across his face. “When you don’t have a body, you can look however you want. You’re just a disembodied heart, so it’s the same thing as making it take shape when it’s a physical thing.”

Yuuya clapped again, and was back to normal in a blink. He added, quietly- “You just have to want to really  _ be _ that form enough.”

Yuuto scrambled for something to say to that, but his opportunity was stolen from him as they entered another clearing. Before them was an altar, a great stone carved and filled with blue dust runes. It glowed in the morning light, a soft halo of blue-green that trailed lightly over the flowers and vines growing along its edges. Yuuya motioned Yuuto up the stone steps to the altar, nearly overgrown, and Yuuto stepped up cautious. 

A figure appeared before him, though he could not tell its features- only that it was vaguely human, a blinding aura obscuring its features. “You have a wish. A desire for what has been hidden here by the god so rudely created, fractured.”

“I want to save someone,” Yuuto replied, “and complete the prophecy without ending the world.”

The figure inclined its head slowly; though it was rapidly becoming clear to Yuuto that it simply  _ had _ no features beyond the light, he got the sense that it was displeased. It said, slowly, “Only one wish may be granted here. And even then, only possibility. The strings of fate are not so easy to play. Surely you know that, Knight.”

Yuuto wanted to bite out that he wasn’t even sure he was a knight, not really. The words were instinct, now, drilled into him by too many instances of Ruri dragging strangers into an overly elaborate story that he had no way to prove- but he couldn’t, in the end. There was no point.

Instead, he had a choice.

“Then I want to save her.”

The figure, that keeper of fate, floated back on the altar, away from its center. “You are not a vessel. There will be repercussions to allowing this. Are you willing to place this girl’s life above the balance of the world?”

Yuuto stepped up. His voice did not waver, his back did not bend. When he met the Keeper of Fate, it was with majesty. “I am.”

"Then speak your names."

"My name is Yuuto, descended from the Phantom Knights of old. And I claim this blessing in the name of Kurosaki Ruri, the Maiden of Wind and Wing."

"And you accept the consequences? Accept them unconditionally?"

Again, the question; again, there was no choice. "I do."

“Then accept everything that this place has to give.” The figure dissolved, burst into a thousand petals that danced up on an impossible wind. They surrounded him, fell into his skin with the prick of thorns and clogged his throat with a pungent collection of scents. For a moment, something intense surged through his veins, terrifying and awesome in its power, like the fragment of a thought that belonged to someone else. And then came the burn.

The burn attacked Yuuto from the inside out, scorched through his lungs and left him gasping for every painful bit of air as the pain teased along his ribs, shot down through his limbs, raced back up and settled in his chest, prickling and burning through his heart. He dropped to his knees, holding himself up on the parched ground with one hand while the other clutched weakly at his chest, fingers curled in worn fabric.

He coughed- when he pulled his hand away, it was stained in black and melting flower petals.

"This," said the guardian of Fate, an echo fading away inside his mind "is the price a mortal pays for their overabundant greed."

Yuuto clutched at his chest, as the burning turned from a sharp pain to a throb to an all-consuming ache that sent his limbs buckling and his body falling limp to the ground. Yuuya hovered over him, calling his name, but he was growing blurry in Yuuto’s vision, impossible to see against the dots flashing across his monochrome sights.

Maybe it was greedy, to put the life of one girl over the fate of all the world. He deserved what he got. But he would, he thought as he lost consciousness, the spirits fading from view even before the dark spots like sparks took over his vision, find a way to bring Ruri back without the end of the world.

* * *

“What’s going on?”

Yuuto was jerked from fitful sleep by the sound of something great in the distance, two vicious roars echoing out and down to the tiny prison cellars. Shun’s sharp question pulled him the rest of the way there.

Then, a clattering- metal over stone, too close. Yuuto leaned over, still trying to blink away his swimming vision. Once, twice- no one had noticed the noise over the distant commotion besides him. Three times, four- Yuuto grabbed a small key off the ground, turned it between his fingers. “Is this..?”

“The key,” Reiji said, and Shun turned to look at him, both he and Reiji watching with a certain incredulity about them. “How did you find it?”

Yuuto started to shake his head, but his vision began to swim again and he settled for a shrug instead. “I don’t know. When I looked down, it was there. It could be a trap.”

“Even if it is,” Shun said, “we don’t have time to sit around deliberating. Let’s go.” He plucked the key from Yuuto’s hand and gave it to his heart. The small falcon clutched it between its talons and slipped between the bars of the cell.

“Come on,” Shun said, helping him to his feet, “we’re going to get the blessing.”

The tower hall was cramped and narrow; Shun eyed the stairs with a fearsome glance as Yuuto tried to steel himself for the climb. There was no more time to waste- something had been set into motion without their knowledge, an ache that Yuuto could feel in his bones and pulsing along weak with his heart bleeding black into his lungs.

“I can climb them myself,” Yuuto said, pushing off of Shun’s shoulder. 

“Wait,” said Reiji, and Yuuto turned to him, unsure of what he was about to offer- but his gaze was not on them, but rather on Selena, who was staring up through the flights of stairs, her brows drawn and expression tight. For a moment more they lingered there, waiting in a tense sort of anticipation, then Selena looked back down at them.

“No,” Selena said, gazing between them with an understanding written plain across her face. From Yuuto, then to Shun. She raised a single finger and pointed. “It’s calling for  _ you _ .”

* * *

“I’ll hold him off!” Yuugo yelled to Rin, tossing her the bag on his back. Rin caught it tight in her arms, feeling it shake her grip to its beat on the off-beats of her own pulse. Their hearts burst from them, twin dragons that filled the entirety of the spacious hall- and it cut her off from Yuugo entirely.

“Be careful!” Rin yelled, then raced down the wide corridor.

Rin dashed past the guards racing down the side halls, knocking them back with a gust as she passed with enough force to throw them most of the way back down. She didn’t know how they would fare on the impact, didn’t have time to check- as long as it was hard enough to keep them from interfering with Yuugo, she thought, it was enough. 

She’d set her mind to looking for Dennis or the rebels, whichever one came first- it was a stroke a fate that led her to finding Dennis in only the third classroom she searched for him in.

Rin grabbed Dennis by the shoulder, whirled him around to face her- but before she had time to say a single word, there was a hound leaping for her throat, springing at her with a violent tension to its muscles. With a snap judgement Rin kicked out her leg, caught it hard in the side of its throat. Its breath left it with a pained whine, and she fought the instinctive urge to apologize to an innocent animal. Rin’s heart burst forth from her, stamped a hoof down onto the hound’s side before it could stand again.

Before her Dennis flinched hard, and she took the opportunity to drag him forwards by the collar of his shirt. “Dennis!”

He shrunk away from her as her heart pressed down on his, trying to pretend as if he wasn’t pained. Rin considered him carefully- though they’d never grown as close as she had with Ruri, she figured that she still knew how to break him down. “And here I thought you might have had a single drop of bravery in you. But here you are, some coward who can barely even protect himself. Isn’t that right?”

Rin curled her hands into a fist; the wind surged up around it. This would hurt. She wasn’t above making it sting for someone who deserved it. But before she could swing down, Dennis heart burst into glimmers of gold, and he shoved her back-  _ so he didn’t lose his will to fight after all _ .

It was of little matter- her heart neighed a battle cry and the wind raged alongside her, gathering up in her palms with an intensity that almost surprised even her. 

The moment before she let her whirlwind loose, something stabbed hard into Rin’s mind, a searing pain that stilled the air and had her grasping at her head. In her ears there was a terrible screeching, the harsh scrape of glass against metal, and Rin forced her shut eyes open to watch for Dennis’ attack- but he too had his head in his hands, digging fingers into his hair where they gripped behind his ears. 

“What- is-“ Rin forced out through gritted teeth as another bolt tore its way through her head, a jagged impulse threatening to tear her in two.

“They’re here again,” Dennis said, a taut emotion Rin couldn’t quite place putting strain in his already pained voice. Rin opened one eye, saw him staring at something beyond her, in the door of the classroom. She forced herself to turn and look, caught sight of something indistinct a moment before it vanished out of existence entirely. It was as a human, perhaps, but vague and left her without words to describe it.

She turned back to Dennis- but he too was gone, vanished from his place as if he had never been there to begin with. Rin almost thought to wonder if he hadn’t been. The windows lining the far side of the room had not been opened, the desks were all open at their bottom, nowhere to hide. If he had vanished, Rin thought, then he had taken the pain with him.

* * *

Shun couldn’t understand how he had done it.

Selena’s words rang in his head as he took the steps two at a time, racing up the tower with a reckless abandon.  _ It’s calling for you. The top room. Where my body is. If it really accepts you, then you’ll know. _

His heart flew before him, its wings near brushing the edge of the wall, the tips of the banister with every great flap. It had never changed. Two dragonhearts they had encountered, two maidens, a knight protector and a fake that had never thought to protect a thing but himself in his life- and yet never had his heart thought to change.

He hadn’t done it. And yet Academia’s Priestess had declared it so. The prophecy may have been false, but the abilities of a vessel were not. Neither had he come to possess. Shun stood before the door, owl perched on his arm where he held it at a right angle for his heart. He reached for the handle, stopped, stared at his heart instead. 

“Change,” he ordered, to not even a shimmering of his heart.

_ Focus _ , Dennis had said,  _ on the image that feels most natural to you. Even when the card is someone else’s design, find ways to make it yours. Find pieces of yourself in it. _

He took a breath, focused, ordered again. “Change.”

Again his heart only blinked up at him, watching with eyes that were far too honest in their stubbornness. He stared down at it, flashing through a final burn of frustration before a hesitant acceptance a long time coming. “I didn’t think so.”

Shun reached out for the handle of the door, then pushed it open slow, recoiling at the stench, unable to pull his bandanna up without a free hand. The interior was plain, with a corpse cleaner than those Shun had come to expect sitting inside. Slowly he crept in, the door creaking shut behind him the only sound in the room until-

“Oh,” said Ruri, “about time that you got here.”

It was all he heard before the silver light flashed from behind his eyes and swallowed him whole. 

* * *

“Bad!” Yuugo yelled out as he dashed through the too-narrow halls of Academia, his heart reduced from dragon to slithering hunks of metal at his side. “This is really bad!”

“You don’t say,” called Yuuri from behind him, his heart still spitting acid up at Yuugo’s heels. Yuugo’s heart rattled wildly, dodging a few patches that had landed dangerously close to him. Indoors was bad, he thought- if he wanted anything close to a fair fight, he’d have to go outside.

Yuugo glanced through the windows of the rooms as he passed, looking for something- for anything, anywhere he could go that wouldn’t back him into a corner. And it was then that he saw it- if he weren’t already breathing hard through his mouth from the running, his jaw would have dropped, because the sky outside was turning black, piece by piece. It was a color that he hadn’t seen the sky turn in years, a color he had slowly been becoming more and more convinced that it couldn’t achieve. 

And standing before the windows was someone indescribable, someone radiating a gold aura and a beautiful smile as vines danced around where she stepped, even though they were indoors- Yuugo sprinted past the door, and then she was gone- but in the next one, and inside the next one.  _ Are you gonna help me? _ He thought, and in response, a door slammed open in front of him. He took it without a second thought, veering hard to the right and straight out into a great courtyard.

His heart leapt into a dragon as he turned, trying to find the figure that had helped him- but they were nowhere to be found as the venom dragon and its owner stalked out of the doors. “What,” he said, “done running already? I thought you’d be a little bit more of a challenge than that. tag is one of my favorite games, you see.”

Yuugo grinned, sending his dragon to the skies, and the venom dragon leapt to match him. Yuugo’s heart sank claws into the smaller dragon’s shoulders, and the venom dragon bit in, sinking poisoned fangs into the tough skin of Yuugo’s dragon. Yuugo grimaced, feeling the impact run through him, even as his dragon sank matching fangs into the other’s shoulder.

He’d have to do something about that poison later, or else Rin was going to let him have it- there, a glimmer out of the corner of his eye- Yuugo turned to follow it, but his attention was stolen back by poison spit from a strange flower that had grown from nowhere, bushing over his cheek and stinging sharp where it had touched-

Yuugo hissed, and in the air his dragon broke free of Yuuri’s, batted it aside with hard wings. “Yeah,” he said, wiping his cheek with his sleeve before pulling his lance from his back, “got the message.”

* * *

Akaba Reiji had a duty that he had to fulfill. Here, now- with ghosts leading the way he blew past all who would seek to stop him as he tore through the halls of Academia, fearsome and driven. “Where is the Professor? And where is Reira?” he called, but no one would answer, any who could driven to avoid him at all costs- but really, Reiji already knew the answer.

“Let’s go,” Selena said, floating at his side with a grin. She cracked her knuckles. “Turns out, after I had a couple of years to think about it, I’m actually pretty pissed about this whole ‘getting killed so my heart could burn out in some other girl’ thing after all.”

“I was telling you that,” Reiji replied, and together they dashed across the courtyard, skirting the edges as two dragons roared overhead, venom splattering the courtyard below as vines sprang up after the fleeing Yuugo- but all Reiji could do was wish him luck as he passed, Selena shouting well wishes at him that he wouldn’t hear. As he ducked into the manor’s overhang, glass shattered at his back- or, Reiji thought, staring out behind him at the blue sky pieces caught on the back of his shirt, something like glass.

But there was no time to stop and investigate- that he’d leave to someone else.

Reiji didn’t lose speed inside the strangely deserted Akaba residence- not even a single Obelisk Force member tried to stop him as he barged all the way into Leo’s private chambers, into the room that mapped the heavens and their potential prophecies that he had never once been allowed inside- 

“Father!” he yelled, eyes lingering on Ray, lying there looking even worse than she had the day she had died. Then, she had smiled, knowing that she had lived. Now, all she looked was pained. Still, Leo did not appear. But he wouldn’t leave Ray alone at this critical hour, not when he knew that the potential end of the prophecy was so near.

Instead it was Reira that emerged from behind Ray’s bed, half crawling out until they pulled themselves to their feet, standing and racing over towards Reiji with more energy than they’d had in years-

“Reiji,” they said, “Reiji, behind you!”

Reiji whirled on his heel, Reira racing to hide behind his legs- standing behind him was Himika, red stone that, Reiji finally saw, wasn’t a stone at all clasped between her blood-red fingertips. “Reiji,” she said, “Know that I’m sorry for this.”

* * *

Yuuto- Yuuto  _ hurt _ .

His legs were shaky, he couldn’t call his heart to support himself- hadn’t been able to for a while now, and the cage he kept it beating weakly in had never felt so restricting before he found that he couldn’t get out. And yet.

With one hand to the wall Yuuto carried on, pushing himself one step after the other, towards the sound of battle, toward the place where he’d find the Professor and Ruri, towards the place where he could make things right again. The students kept a wide berth from him, now. He knew if he pulled back his hand he’d find himself dripping rot- so he didn’t look, kept his gaze resolutely in front of him-

And when he turned a corner, promptly ran straight into Rin. Rin staggered on her feet, but he fell sharp to the ground, and Rin offered him a hand up only to gasp at the state of him.

“What dumb thing did you-“ she said, grabbing his hand. A pulse that was not his filled his ears, and from him the rot lifted, flaking free with every beat. Slowly Yuuto felt strength return to his limbs, could feel the rush of the blessing shifting through him like a true magic-

And then Rin was yanked back from his grasp with a shriek. Standing behind her was Akaba Leo, having grabbed her by the straps of her drawstring bag.

“Let me go!” she yelled, kicking back behind her and letting the wind slice between them- and while Leo’s hands emerged bloodied and bruised, so too was the heart cradled between them. Rin narrowed her eyes and blasted him with blades of air- too fast a mechanical soldier leapt between them. Rin took a step backwards, and Yuuto climbed to his feet, body feeling light and heart practically leaping in his chest at the ease in which it could shift, now-

“Rin!” he yelled, and the girl stepped out of the way as his heart, a great knight again, reached out to intercept it. Leo had already started down the corridor, and he waved Rin on after him. “Don’t let him take it back with him!”

The knights stuck swords against each other, and Rin dashed past before the Ancient Gear could react. Satisfied, Yuuto threw himself into the fight, his heart knocking the mechanical soldier backwards with every blow until he could stab clean through it, into the very core of its mechanical heart. It stuttered and did not get up again- and before his heart could even shift fully into the greyhound, more black than its usual marbled blue, Yuuto was running after them, chasing frantically the song that pulsed in his head. Yuuya’s pendant bounced free across his chest, a promise that lit the way forwards in the rainbow gleam.

* * *

The other dragonheart, Yuuri thought, was irritatingly fast. Though their hearts exchanged claws and bites up above, not a single one of his poisons seemed to affect the other dragonheart for more than a few moments, and even that wasn’t enough time to get a definitive strike off. The few times he had, the other had ducked, or turned his head, or a gust of wind had thrown his acid off-trajectory. Some feat of impossible luck would occur, then, and it was driving Yuuri mad. It was one thing for a duel to contain some element of luck, another entirely for luck to be its basis, and this was veering dangerously close to the second.

“Hey!” Yuugo called from across the field, having just cut through a few of his thinner vines, “I’ve got a message for you! Do you remember that day in the Eternal Forest?”

Of course he did, thought Yuuri with a satisfied smile. It was the day that he had faced down a god.

_ “Thank you for the fine distraction.” _

Yuuri let the arrow fly. The girl-goddess moved, tried to duck out of the way, but she was not yet used to her mortal body. The boy at her side was even easier to kick away, his heart nothing in the face of Yuuri’s dragon, all smooth purple edges and green scales.

He walked up to the girl, watched that blue fire burn in her eyes and wondered just who it belonged to. He laid a finger flat against her heart, then had dug that finger in- his talent, the ability that marked him as one of the chosen. But he had no interest in her heart- only the power of the god that now dwelled inside it.

“You,” said the girl, choking out more blood than words, “won't get to live with what you've stolen forever."

There was something strange in her gaze, that ethereal blue- there was something strange in her expression. Something proud, stubborn. Knowing. When she spoke those words it was not with those of a young girl facing death before her time, but with that of a god who had seen the eons pass before her eyes.

Yuuri curled his lips up into a sneer as the flood of power hit him, pulled the breath from his lungs and rushed through to his heart. He stepped back, towering over the stuck girl as the light in her eyes began to fade.

At his feet the grass twisted up and warped towards his touch, thin blades turning fast to thick stems and dark-colored blooms. Yuuri held out his hand, trembling with the power that wracked him. He swiped his hand, and the vines shifted, danced across the clearing like snakes and burrowed their way into the body of the little rebel boy who had thought himself brave enough to stand against him. Satisfied with the display, he turned away from the girl- no need to see the moment of death for someone so insignificant.

_ No _ , he thought,  _ nothing could take this power from me _ .  _ There is nothing that would have the strength to try. _

Those words had been the delusions of a dying god, and nothing more. And yet the one standing before him now was not the same as the girl-goddess, overwhelmed by a power that she did not understand and a form that was so easily slain-

“Yeah,” continued Yuugo, back in the present, “she says you’re going to pay for that.”

Between them flickered to life the image of that girl-goddess- older, then, wiser in every conceivable manner. When she stood before him it was with that same fire he had seen that day, and he had to conclude that determination belonged to the both of them. Yuuri laughed- destroying those who had barely possessed the capacity to comprehend, let alone fight back had grown so dreadfully  _ boring _ . “Interesting!”

With a clap of his hands his heart slipped from him, stealing away with it whispers of the power that thrummed through his veins, foreign yet obedient as it surged through him beat after beat. His poison-drenched dragon spread wide its wings with a horrid roar. Acid splattered the stone, eating into it with a hiss. The crystal-winged dragon sank back down to rest beside its owner, watching with dark eyes.

“You won’t best me again,” said the girl, and with no more than a blink of her eyes vines burst from the ground, reaching out for him with barbs on their tips.

“Pathetic,” said Yuuri, and turned them all to withered stems with a wave of his hand. The girl summoned up another wave, to the same result- and one behind him, this time. Yuuri didn’t even turn to send them to wither, this time, simply threw his arms wide. “Is this all a god can do?”

The girl smiled. “No,” she said, “but it’s all  _ you _ can.” Before Yuuri could protest there was a tightness in his chest, a terrible feeling like his ribs closing in on his lungs. Yuuri grimaced, glanced up- no vines could reach his dragon that high up in the air-

And yet his dragon- his heart- Yuuri choked on his breath as his heart crashed to the ground, bound up in vines and thrashing against them. Its acid ate away at the thick growth, but more only curled around it, pinning it back down the moment before it broke free. 

“When a ghost defines their existence,” said the girl-goddess, “they define it by who or what they are bound to. And I chose to bind myself to  _ you _ .”

Yuuri summoned up thorned vines to tear into her; they shed their points and turned back on him, wrapping their way up his arms and binding them tight to his side. 

“I stole your power!”

“No,” said the girl, holding the power of a god in her hands, “You only took a fragment. And you never took it from the god. You took it from  _ me _ .”

The girl stepped forwards, though her feet still hovered above the ground; it had no right to be as intimidating as it was. But still, Yuuri refused to back down. He had killed her. He had killed her, and this time the task came to shatter her soul, that persistent piece of her heart that hadn’t died with the rest of her.

“And I?” said the girl, floating just above him, forcing him to tilt his head upwards to meet her gaze- “I’m taking it back.”

The girl placed her hands against Yuuri’s chest, and he hissed as it plunged through him, burning hard and fast, and if this was the pain that he inflicted on all those whose hearts he had stolen, he couldn’t say he’d ever needed to experience the reversal.

“You must be as much a fool as you look,” Yuuri spat, “My heart isn’t there.”

“No,” said the girl, “it isn’t. But I’m not taking your heart.” She stared down at him then with the pulse of life racing through her eyes, a birth and death and the entirety of an existence in between held suspended within a single moment- and with sudden, cold clarity, he understood.

She said, cool- “I’m only taking the form you stole from me.”

“Because of the prophecy?” They’d need two dragonhearts when the time came, Yuuri thought, watching as the girl drew back her hand, as his dragon dissolved back into green dust at his side, replacing the empty space instinctively-

“No,” said Hiiragi Yuzu, “It’s because you killed me.”

* * *

When Kurosaki Shun opened his eyes, it was to squint against the soft light that filtered through his eyelids, trying to make out what he should be seeing. Before him stood three figures- two familiar, one not.

The first one he knew too well- it was one that had slept next to him in the tents during the darkest hours, that had fought at their sides and whose back he was far too used to seeing for anyone he had once called a friend. It vanished, lost to the night.

The second was Rin, a quiet figure, exuding a confidence that had always befitted her. She slipped into a blinding light, skirting between silver and gold.

And the final one he did not know, but he caught the gleam of a bracelet with pink jewel set in the center, and he could guess. He didn’t need to know, it was enough. It disappeared into the silver moonlight with the rest of them.

“So?” Shun said, challenging the god, “are we going to fulfill the prophecy, or not?”

The light swelled, then fractured into a thousand pieces, stars glimmering amongst the endless dark in a way that Shun had almost forgotten they could, filling up the vast horizon with their tiny specks of light-

“ _ Then accept this _ ,” came the voice from the heavens, and Shun let the stars fill his eyes as they danced about him, thinking only that he would deliver it to Ruri the moment he used it to take back her heart.

* * *

“I’m sorry,” Himika said, and dropped the tiny red fragment of heart into Reiji’s palm. “I’m sorry. I thought that… If Leo’s experiments succeeded, and if we could have both Reira and Ray, then… I would have done anything, Reiji, to keep this family from losing anyone.”

Reiji rolled the piece of heart over in his palm, the flesh warmed only by Himika’s hand in the moment before. It would not beat again, not even if the other pieces were to be found somewhere in the mess of chimera that broken hearts inevitably became.

“Then start,” he said, “by bringing back Reira’s smile.”

Himika stared down at him, then stepped back. She ducked her head, knowing that, out of all the things he could have said, that was the kindest of them all. “Leo… Your father-“

But she was interrupted by the man himself slipping through the doors, slamming them closed behind him. His hands were bloodied and torn, but the corrupted heart was clutched a precious thing between them. “I have it,” he said to Himika, unwilling or, at this point, simply unable to address Reiji, “I have it again. With Ray’s heart, I-“

"That's not Ray's heart!"

Reiji's words pierced through the hall and echoed through the cavern it left behind. His father’s gaze slipped slowly over to him, over to Reira clinging to his pant leg.

"Ray is  _ gone _ ," Reiji said, and his words were louder even than the pounding at the door, the sounds of wind whipping away at the thick wood and the impact of a sword as accompaniment. “She  _ has _ been gone.”

“She’s right here, Reiji,” said Leo, waving a hand to Ray’s body, to Zarc’s heart, cursed by the prophecy Leo himself had made, so long ago.

“You really can’t see,” said Reiji, shaking his head. This time it was his turn to turn pitying eyes on his father, the man who could see the lines of fate so clearly and yet stay so blind to the reality before his eyes, to the conclusion that they must be telling him.

Leo opened his mouth, doubtless to chide him- but he never got the chance, as the doors blew open, slamming hard into the walls, hinges creaking. Standing there were the blessings collected- Yuzu, carrying with her two fragments of the earth, Yuuto behind her- and, Reiji saw, Yuuya, hovering ghostly but determined, the same energy flowing off of him. Then Shun, his eyes not his own, Rin following close behind.

But it wasn’t enough.

Yuuri slunk in behind him, and it wasn’t enough.

* * *

Academia was in chaos.  _ The prisoners had escaped- _ students scrambled through the halls, unsure of what to do in the face of dragons crashing through the skies and the Professor himself moving through them for the first time in years. Though they turned to him for words, for directions, for  _ orders _ \- but he said nothing as he stalked past them, sparing them not a glance.

Dennis held his breath as the Professor faced him at the turn- but him too, he passed without a word. In his hands was a black, beating heart, and Dennis remembered his earlier meeting with Rin- So Academia had finally caught up with her.

But it was no longer his fight. His meeting with Rin had been a fluke; passing the Professor had been a likely coincidence. If he could just continue slipping quiet through the halls, unable to be found, ignoring the voices of friends long dead echoing out to him, then-

"Is that really what you think?"

That voice again, so disbelieving but without the edge of accusation, and then Dennis could no longer deny it-  the voice that had called to him in the shrine town, that he had heard in the library tower, warnings and whispers of protection that had called a canary to sing to him- "Yuuya?"

And what reason would Yuuya have had to protect him- he, who had stood there and watched Yuuri plunge the vines drawn from his newfound power through Yuuya's body, ending his struggles to pull himself to his feet-

"Why?" He asked, a hundred things at once.

"You did everything you could to help us," Yuuya said, "and now you won't?"

Dennis grit his teeth, wished that he could at least see Yuuya- but perhaps that would only make it worse. "No. I've already done everything. The Priestess is dead. The blessings are all-"

Dennis stopped, counted. The first, unbeknownst to the rebels, Yuuri in the forest. The second, Yuuya in the message tower. The third, Rin in the cavern. The fourth, Rin and the heart- and yet he himself had been sure that the Priestess possessed one. He had  _ known _ -

"Yuuya?" He ventured, "What's going on here?"

He could hear the grin in Yuuya's voice. "Yuzu and I figured it out. When the Professor stopped the sun from setting, the god of the heavens shattered into four. Then when Yuuri tried to steal the god of earth's power, they also shattered into four."

There was a click, a shifting into place. Yuuya's gasp was a small sound drowned out by Dennis' own. "They're here. That was the last one." Yuuya's voice grew louder, a little frantic- "I have to go. Dennis, you have to come with me. If you want to change anything, you have to-"

Yuuri seized his wrist from behind- at some point the hall had emptied out, the Professor having long since left, students dissipated to their confusion. Yuuri looked pained, struggling slightly for his usual composure. His cape was tattered, and Dennis took it to mean the dueling dragons hadn't ended in his favor. "Come with me," he said, and pulled Dennis away, down the same hall the Professor had vanished down- towards the Akaba residence and the hall of prophecy inside.

This time, he did not protest.

* * *

From Yuuri sprang a venom dragon, and Shun saw as the twin goddess turned, girl's eyes wide with shock. "How? I took it back from you!"

Yuuri's smile was smug, laced with pride. "You only took your power. This is my heart."

The girl snarled with an aggression half hers, and Yuugo leapt between them, his own dragon springing forth to match. "Okay, round two!"

“Ah,” said the voice of the god, “so you’re the one who stole a fragment of my other.”

Then, Shun himself, a flash of fire- “You’re going to suffer for what you did to my sister.”

Across from him, the boy-god stretched out his arm, and Yuuri watched in bated anticipation for what would match him.

Yuuri laughed at the perceived feeble attempt. It was no different than the pitiful falcon that had tried to stand against him on the night he had stolen the heart. No, thought Shun, it was no different. He matched eyes with it, then at the Priestess standing protectively before Reiji and the two he stood before. She nodded at him, mouthed- " _ Take it. _ "

Shun reached out his hand, and Selena grimaced as he pulled- but nothing emerged.  _ Why? _ Thought the god, and Shun felt the surprise like a hard wave slamming him to the shore. He growled at the god sharing his body and felt it recede.

"Wait," said his twin, blooms sprouting from her arms, "Leave him to me. It's my duty."

The god surged up again as Shun nodded. Yuuto stood beside him, Yuuya materializing slow over his shoulder with a gleam of the pendulum crystal. Yuuya met his eyes and nodded- and so the god beside him reached out and pulled the blessing from him, instead. The girl beside him then did the same to Yuuto below, then stalked off to Yuugo to help with Yuuri.

In the chaos Akaba Leo had shifted towards Ray's side, leaning over the bed with the heart- A gust of wind stole it from his hands and landed it in the hands of the girl who stepped up behind him. Rin stared up at him, then- "Come on, hurry up and take it."

Shun swept his hand through her and stole the fragments of old power that slept between her winds. She shuddered but did not crumble, then shoved the heart at him. "C'mon," she said, voice only wavering a little, "Yuugo and I will find another way. You need it, so take it."

"No," Shun said, "that doesn't have a blessing." Though it beat with the feeling of a prophecy, though it sang out bright of a verse known to none except he who had twisted it- it was not what contained those shards of himself. Instead he turned to Leo, facing them with rage.

“You made a gamble with the fragments of threads from a dozen different lives and tied them together to call them a heretic’s prophecy,” Shun said, and though the words left his mouth they were foreign to him, hearing them in his own thoughts a moment after they were spoken. “In the hopes of defying the fate that girl had chosen for herself, you finished what she had began and destroyed me."

"I did what was necessary."

He stepped forwards, impossibly light. Leo did not flinch away, not even as the bracelet on Ray's wrist lost its pink gem, caught in Shun's hand. His heart trailed from him in glimmers of stardust, and he reached up to the sky that had turned void black as his heart raced towards it, fragments of stars turning to feathers and steel.

“What are you doing?” then Leo did falter, sensing the lines of fate begin to move without his interference, curling bright around his stars and beginning to tie their frayed edges. He would have preferred all the blessings, to be complete as his sister was then, but three would have to suffice-

Shun smirked. When his heart left its perch on his arm it was with a determination and a lightness that he had never before been able to reach. “Shattering the sky.”

* * *

The sky went dark. With a shattering that rang low with the tremble of the earth and a burst of bright light that cast everything into brilliance, the sky disappeared from the world. Though Dennis tried to blink away the darkness, when his vision cleared all that was left was the sun hanging distant on the western horizon, its rays of orange and pink and bloody twilight red all swallowed by the void. A great falcon glinted silver feathers of steel as it soared through the void, painting stars where its glimmers landed.

Yuuri held his own against the dragon and the god, one eye to Dennis in the shadows-  _ when the time comes, you'll slay the gods and prevent the prophecy. Watch the Maiden. You'll restrain her when I steal her heart for the Professor. _

The dragons clashed hard against each other, and Dennis turned his head away- only for his gaze to catch on a familiar red dress, hanging ghostly in a wind that wasn't blowing.  _ No _ , he thought- but after hearing Yuuya, after  _ seeing _ Yuuya, now, hovering close over Yuuto's shoulder-

Dennis met Ruri's eyes. They were cold as a stranger's.

"Stop him!" yelled Leo, and his heart burst forth from him a great Emperor, a terrifying amalgam of all Academia's rulers and power throughout the ages- Leo's gaze swept over him, as did Yuuri's and Dennis half-drew his blade as Shun was thrown to the ground-

"Dennis," said Yuuri, his heart surging forwards to throw Yuugo's to the ground, dissolving with a painful thump, "Now!"

The setting sun dyed the hall in brilliant gold and deep shadow. Dennis realized with a sudden clarity what had to be done, and something in him snapped, burned with the intensity of the bloody color of the twilight sun.

“No.”

Yuuri sent him a cool glance, brimming with curiosity and a detached sort of excitement. “Oh? Are you refusing to follow orders?”

Dennis turned his back on Shun, struggling to get back to his feet, and levelled the blade at Yuuri in answer. A slow smile spread across Yuuri’s lips. “You’re betraying us.”

“That’s what Academia raised me to do, isn’t it?”

He turned away from Yuuri, from the Professor, reached out with his left hand through the twilight and the twilight met him there with a warm burst of emotion and a cheeky, “About time you finally realized.”

There as a spark, and Dennis felt as the blessing was pulled from his palm-  and as Yuuri's arrow slammed into his back, always hitting true. "You know," rang Yuuri's voice in the sudden quiet, "how we deal with traitors."

Before his eyes materialized a dove, the last thing in his sights before it blurred when he hit the ground, rattled by the twin shocks. The dove flew nervous circles around him.

“Go,” he choked out, swatting gently at the air beneath its feathers as it made to land on him. “Go to your owner.”

The dove chirped at him, a sound indignant laced with worry. Dennis blinked up at it as his vision started to blur, his breath coming hard-earned and ragged, now. "Go," he insisted, and the dove flew off to the prone body of its owner.

_ That's everything, _ thought Dennis, then tried to chase away the pain with thoughts of golden fields blowing quiet under the moonlight and the quiet laugh from far away, a ghost of the future tied on lines that he hadn’t walked.

* * *

Ruri flew, dodging narrowly an arrow before a wall of bark rose up to shield her. She settled atop her own chest, felt a different pulsing inside it.

“Sayaka?” she chirped, and felt the heart stutter, lost for words. Piece by piece it pulled itself from Ruri’s chest, a tiny fae hesitant to leave the place that it had been left to protect. The fae reached out tiny hands to touch, and Ruri ducked her head to allow it, feeling warm hands card through her short feathers.

“Stay close to me,” Ruri chirped, slipping into her chest, strains of thought turning to words rolling familiar over her tongue, over lips familiar, her own- “I’ll keep you safe.”

The fae nodded and clung tight to her shoulder. Ruri took a great long breath- and had the air, she wondered, always tasted so clear? And pulled herself to her feet.

“How?” yelled Leo, stepping back even as his emperor swung down hard- Ruri blinked, saw the red lines and the flicker of a ghostly hand waving through them- Ruri flicked her wrist, tangling the red around them, and they caught up that massive sword, too, veering harmlessly into the ground beside her. Not a shred of scrap even brushed past her bare ankles, dug into the loose dress.

Leo narrowed his eyes, pulled the lines around his own fingers, tugging hard at the line tangled around the heart in her chest, but Ruri stood firm. The thread did not so much as waver. She could see clearly the two places where it had been cut and tied, mixed with the fate of two others. Again, Leo questioned- “How are you doing this? Only the Akabas can-“

“Exactly,” Ruri said, stepping forwards light across the tile, brushing past the god, her brother, Yuuto, Rin-

“No,” said Leo, “impossible. No one can inherit someone else’s line of fate. You would have to be-“ The realization hit him hard, fast with a widening of eyes and the halting of an Emperor.

“She saw,” said Ruri, tracing the lines before her eyes and pitying the moment that she’d lose sight of their beauty, “On the day she made her prophecy, she saw what you would do. She had already tied her line of fate to one person in order to try and change the fate of someone important to her. And so she did it again, and again. So that one man wouldn’t destroy the world with his sorrow.”

Without warning the Emperor swung his blade down hard. Ruri stared up at it without flinching away- and before her, the Emperor began to crumble away, dropping soft into splatters of black. Ruri stepped forwards, and the rot ran far from her as Leo took to a knee.

As the Emperor’s blade vanished, Ruri reached up a hand to the sky, filling with stars more brilliant than Ruri could remember as the steel falcon began to vanish, its feathers used up.

“Please,” said Leo, arm at his chest, propping himself up with other atop the bed- “Ray, she- I did everything. Ordered my friend dead. Used Reira’s heart. I moved  _ fate _ -“

“It’s okay to mourn,” Ruri said, then swirled her hand amongst the red lines and, as they paled in the starlight twinkling bright, draw with them the moon. The corrupted heart unraveled, then, the pink gleam of the blood-stained bracelet returned to diamond shine. In Reiji’s hands an unbeating heart burst bright into verdigris glimmer, and a heavy chest breathed its last, a sigh of final relief.

“Ray,” echoed Leo, then fell hard to the ground as he slipped to black, formless and silent before vanishing under the moonlight. The red line tied to Ruri’s own frayed its final thread and fell from her, vanishing along with the rest before it could even hit the ground.

“And so those pulled by their fate reach the conclusion,” said the god in her brother’s voice, more wistful than he’d ever speak.

“The end of the world without night,” spoke the other god- and then they were gone, vanished alongside the ghosts of Yuuya and Yuzu. Outside there was a shake like an impact- but this one, Ruri knew, was nothing but a natural shaking. Yuuto grabbed Shun’s shoulder as he stumbled, and Ruri rushed forwards to help him stay steady-

“The god,” Shun said, “was wrong about one thing.”

Yuuto nodded at her side. Ruri grinned- so he had seen it too. Ruri finished- “Fate may have helped us finish it, but we’re the ones who saw it through.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just turn your head  
> And go all night  
> Well I’ll be here  
> I’ll be alright  
> Just turn your head   
> Into the night  
> Turn away, I’ll be alright  
> Just turn away  
> Oh turn away  
> Just turn away  
> \- Shame (Empires)


	34. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> この世界の片隅で今を生きる僕らは  
> 涙を越えて　光の射す方へ  
> 0か1か？10か100か？答えを探している  
> 響き合う　心の音  
> “イエス” “ノー” 
> 
> Under the sky of nowhere we search for answer to seize our lives  
> Forget the tears and the eyes beyond the lights  
> Zero to countless times of rise and fall we've carried on  
> Resound again, the beat of our heart  
> Yes, no  
> \- Refrain Boy/リフレインボーイ (ALL OFF)

In the waters of Academia that marked their departure, two pillars of prophecy sat dark beneath the sea, slowly being eaten away by the saltwater tang. In the tired port town people returned to themselves quietly, blinking up at the darkness with quiet anticipation for sunrise, soothed by the silver evening.

In a forest brimming with the sounds of life, a solitary girl picked herself from the ground and leapt into the open arms of another, crying promises of things that they’d long since worried about repaying.

In the capital glistening in the way of childhood dreams, the gathered crowd of Satellite roared loud as the King among them for the sight of their champions, hearts dancing under the moonlight, crystalline wings of white gleaming ethereal as the returned stars.

In the quiet dawn of an early spring day, in the sleepy streets of a reconstructed Maiami, three children granted a miracle slipped home to places where heartbreak, carried heavy and bleeding over the years disappeared in a single sobbing embrace.

In the courtyard of Academia a child turned their gaze from the crescent moon and smiled up at their mother and brother and spoke quietly the words that the world would learn to live by next- the story of a ghost, taken before their time.

In the fields of reclaimed Heartland, in the ruins of tragedy, houses were built again and families stitched back together with painful moments after the tears and the knowledge that it could never return- but that there wasn’t hopelessness, in that. In those once-destroyed lands sprang villages and markets, shrines and tailorshops- and quiet little farmhouses, built in the ruins of what had existed before.

And, on a quiet summer twilight, seeking the promise that had been made with a new red ribbon tied around his neck and bracelet left sitting warm on his wrist knocked a soul seeking only what would be given, bluebird chirping soft from its perch on his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After writing 2-5k a day for a month, I can't believe it's over...  
> Many thanks to the admins of the ygo big bang, who on top of creating amazing 3k rewards for me (the moon!!! the birds like stars!!!! i'm so in love with it!!!), also put up with my varying reasons for being late, all the way from the dumb "I mixed up the check-in days" to the "I'm stranded in Tokyo with a broken laptop" incident. They've made the event so pleasant and so much fun to be a part of, and I can't thank them enough for what they've done getting this event started. I'm so excited for next year!  
> Then thank you C for the beta read. This thing would be so much more of a mess without you; thank you so much for powering through! And of course, all the readers for making it to the end!!  
> If you had told 2015 me writing this pretty little tragedy in my linguistics notebook during lecture that it would end up spiraling wildly out of control and becoming a MONSTER uh. I would've told you flat out that I never would have any intentions of writing this long of a fic. To that extent, if you told me how far the final product would diverge from my original intentions, well...  
> I don't really consider this fic a success in terms of what I originally wanted to achieve with it, but it's a really interesting failure. It's not the simple dream-haze wait-was-that-a-metaphor-or-did-that-actually-happen tragedy I had intended, but it's definitely something! If I had known just how much this planned 13k fic would grow, then there are lots of things i would have changed right from the beginning. But I definitely don't regret the experience of remembering the fun in writing without any kind of plan or outline, and I've definitely learned so much from it.  
> I'm planning on only getting better from here on out, so I hope to see you again!!


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